Asian session: The yen fell

The yen fell against most major peers amid prospects that the Bank of Japan will boost stimulus measures, reducing demand for the nation’s assets as a haven.

Japan’s currency traded near the weakest level since August versus the dollar as the premium two-year U.S. Treasuries offered relative to their Japanese peers reached the highest in two months. The yen was poised for the biggest five-day decline in nine weeks.

The euro headed for a weekly gain against the greenback as European leaders committed to their goal of creating a regional bank supervisor by year-end. Leaders will seek to agree on a framework to establish the European Central Bank as the main bank supervisor by Jan. 1, according to officials at the summit. The common supervisor would put the euro zone a step closer to being able to provide direct bank aid from its firewall fund to nations such as Spain.

Gains in the common currency were limited before data that may underscore the deepening impact of the debt crisis. An index of household sentiment in the euro area was at minus 26 in October from 25.9 the previous month, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before the data on Oct. 23. That would be the lowest since May 2009.

EUR/USD: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of $1.3050-80.

GBP/USD: during the Asian session, the pair rose, recovering from yesterday's fall.

USD/JPY: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of Y79.30-40.

The week comes to an end with a fairly light data calendar. However, European politics will likely provide plenty of headlines. The EU leaders summit continues in Brussels and will likely see a plethora of press conferences from the various leaders. Early data in the UK sees the release of the John Lewis department store sales data for the Oct 13 week. The data is due just ahead of 0600GMT. The UK's September Public sector finances data is released at 0830GMT. The main US release for the session is expected at 1400GMT, with the release of the September NAR Existing Home Sales report. Also at 1400GMT, the September BLS State Unemployment numbers are out. Late US data, expected at 2015GMT, sees the release of the C&I loans numbers.