US$ hits three-month high versus yen on Abenomics triumph

London

THE dollar touched a three-month high against the yen on Monday, as investors bet an emphatic election victory for Japan's ruling party would see a continuation of "Abenomics", the ultra-loose policies that have kept downward pressure on the yen.

The greenback was trading around its highest in 2 1/2 weeks against a basket of six major currencies, as markets speculated that the next chair of the US Federal Reserve would take a more hawkish stance on monetary policy. US President Donald Trump said in comments aired on Monday that he would make his choice on the Fed chair "very shortly" and was still weighing at least three people: Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell, Stanford University economist John Taylor and current Fed chair Janet Yellen.