The yen rose to a post-World War II high versus the dollar as concern U.S. growth is slowing and European leaders will fail to resolve the region’s debt crisis boosted demand for the safety of Japan’s currency. The Dollar Index dropped to a six-week low before U.S. reports that economists said will show durable goods orders fell in September and new-home sales stagnated, adding to speculation policy makers will resume asset purchases. Australia’s dollar weakened against all its major counterparts after a government report showed inflation slowed. Switzerland’s franc gained. “There’s strong safe-haven demand for the yen,” said Lee Hardman, a foreign-exchange strategist at Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in London. “The upward pressure on the yen caused by the turmoil is transferring to yen-dollar on the back of building expectations of more quantitative easing from the Fed and on the outlook for the U.S. economy.” The yen rose 0.3 percent to 75.89 per dollar at 7:04 a.m. in New York, after strengthening to a record 75.72. Japan’s currency gained 0.2 percent to 105.61 per euro. The dollar was little changed at $1.3916 per euro after weakening to $1.3960 yesterday, the lowest since Sept. 8. The franc advanced 0.2 percent to 87.66 centimes per dollar. Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley said Oct. 24 the central bank has the option of starting a third round of asset purchases, known as quantitative easing. The Fed’s Open Market Committee will gather for its next meeting on Nov. 1-2. ‘More QE’ “Some senior Fed officials have opened the door to more QE should it be required and that’s weighing on the dollar,” said Michael Derks, chief strategist at FxPro Financial Services Ltd. in London. “The dollar has been weakening in part because of growing optimism that Europe might be able to cobble together a reasonable response to its debt crisis. With European leaders starting to show more willing, people don’t want to be short the euro.” U.S. bookings for equipment meant to last at least three years dropped 1 percent, after rising 0.1 percent in August, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Home sales increased to a 300,000 annual rate from 295,000 pace in August, which was a six-month low, a separate survey showed. The Dollar Index, which IntercontinentalExchange Inc. uses to track the currency against those of six U.S. trading partners, dropped 0.1 percent to 76.158. EU Summit Europe’s summit today comes after six days of haggling among finance ministers, central and commercial bankers, chancellors, presidents and prime ministers over the shape of a second bailout for Greece, the recapitalization of banks and the retooling of the 440 billion-euro bailout fund into a more potent weapon. The 14th crisis summit in 21 months starts with a meeting of all 27 European Union leaders at 6 p.m. in Brussels. A meeting of finance ministers originally scheduled for today was canceled yesterday. “The risk is policy makers will under-deliver” at the European summit, said Grant Turley, a senior currency strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Sydney. “The yen is one of the few safe havens left. People are happy to be holding yen in preference to other things.” The dollar has depreciated 3.3 percent this year, the second-worst performer among 10 currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The yen has gained 4.2 percent and the euro has advanced 1 percent, the indexes show. BOJ Meeting Bank of Japan officials will discuss more monetary easing at a meeting tomorrow, the Nikkei newspaper reported. Measures to mitigate the impact of the strong yen on Japan’s economy may include expanding a 50-trillion yen asset purchase program by 5 trillion yen and purchasing bonds with maturities longer than two years, the Nikkei said without citing anyone. “I’ve ordered my staff to be prepared to take action at any time,” Azumi told reporters in Tokyo. He declined to comment on the timing of any yen sales in parliament today and said conducting coordinated intervention in the currency market is a “difficult thing.” The Australian dollar depreciated for a second day after the statistics bureau said the consumer-price index rose 0.6 percent last quarter from the previous three months, when it gained 0.9 percent. “The weak CPI release sparked some speculation that the RBA may cut interest rates as soon as the next meeting,” Rabobank’s Foley said. “That’s pressuring the Aussie dollar.” Australia’s currency weakened 0.6 percent to $1.0366, and dropped 0.9 percent to 78.65 yen. To contact the reporters on this story: Emma Charlton in London at echarlton1@bloomberg.net; Monami Yui in Tokyo at myui1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net

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