Yen breaks winning streak

[TOKYO] The yen halted a four-day advance as some major financial markets reopened after a long holiday weekend.

The yen slipped after climbing 0.7 per cent over the previous four sessions. Most other currencies were lower against the dollar too, apart from the Indonesian rupiah, which rose 0.2 per cent.

Trading is expected to be thin this week as financial markets close out a volatile year. U.S. equities are trading near a record, the dollar is around a multiyear high and crude oil has climbed to a 17-month peak as traders have powered past shocks from the Brexit vote in the UK to Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election.

"The financial markets seem to have already priced in expectations toward a Trump presidency, and are shifting toward a market that's waiting to gauge his actual policies," said Hideyuki Ishiguro, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities Co in Tokyo. "We also have a lack of market participants with overseas markets closed."

The dollar was higher against most major currencies, with the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index trading near the highest level in more than a decade.

The yen weakened 0.3 per cent to 117.40 per dollar. While the currency gained 0.5 per cent last week, it's still about 15 per cent from a high in August. The South Korean won fell 0.4 per cent against the dollar, after strengthening for the first time in nine sessions on Monday.

BLOOMBERG