The yen dropped to the lowest in more than eight months against the dollar as stocks rose around the world, damping demand for the safety of Japan’s currency. The yen fell versus all 16 of its major peers as the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which has pledged fiscal stimulus to stoke growth, leads in polls before Dec. 16 elections. The dollar held a two-day decline against the euro before the Federal Reserve is expected to announce today an expansion of asset purchases. South Korea’s won was near a 15- month high versus the dollar, even after North Korea launched a rocket in defiance of international sanctions. “There is a slightly more benign view of risk today, so safe-haven currencies like the yen are underperforming,� said Michael Derks, chief strategist at FxPro Group Ltd. in London. “Traders may also be taking on extra positions ahead of the election this weekend. There’s likely to be more quantitative easing from the American central bank today, which has been pretty well baked into the cake.� The yen fell 0.4 percent to 82.88 per dollar at 9:17 a.m. London time after reaching 82.94, the weakest since April 4. The dollar was little changed at $1.3010 per euro. It fell 0.6 percent over the previous two days. Europe’s shared currency added 0.5 percent to 107.81 yen. To contact the reporters on this story: Kristine Aquino in Singapore at kaquino1@bloomberg.net; David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Dobson at pdobson2@bloomberg.net

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