The yen edged higher this morning (July 19th) as investors square their accounts ahead of the upper house elections taking place in Japan at the weekend.
According to recent opinion polls, prime minister Shinzo Abe looks set to take a majority vote, meaning there will be little stopping his fierce economic drive to refresh the Japanese economy through decisive quantitative easing and structural reform.
Meanwhile, the dollar fell against the Japanese currency by 0.4 per cent to 100.05 yen, after pulling back from its previous high of 100.87 yen.
Junya Tanase, chief foreign exchange strategies at JPMorgan Chase in Tokyo, said it is unlikely that a victory for Mr Abe would change existing dominant market patterns.
He added: "I don't think there will be any direct reaction in that case, but a trend toward higher share prices and a weaker yen will probably continue."
Despite the recent gains made by the yen, the greenback is still up more than 15 per cent against it for the year, while the euro has eased 0.2 per cent against the yen to 131.48 yen.ADNFCR-1681-ID-801614669-ADNFCR
