BT:Yen nears recent low vs dollar before Japan election
[NEW YORK] The dollar held near a one-week high against the yen on Friday ahead of Japan's upper house elections, which could add momentum to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's aggressive push for monetary easing to lift growth and fight deflation.
Opinion polls show Mr Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its New Komeito Party coalition partner are on track to win a hefty majority. That would give him more freedom to push his agenda of monetary easing, public spending and structural reform, which could weigh on the yen.
"What appears to be clear, barring any sharp surprises in the outcome, is that Mr Abe is likely to consolidate his power and maintain course for an accommodative fiscal and monetary policy," said Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX Strategy at BK Asset Management in New York.
"That in turn should prove to be dollar/yen bullish unless the (Japanese government bond) market in Japan turns volatile once again," he added.
