Asian session: The yen and dollar weakened against most of their major counterparts

00:00Japan Bank holiday-

00:00China Bank holiday-

00:00Switzerland Bank holiday-

05:30Australia Commodity Prices, Y/YDecember -11.6%-8.0%

The yen and dollar weakened against most of their major counterparts as U.S. lawmakers passed legislation to avert the so-called fiscal cliff of automatic spending cuts and tax increases. President Barack Obama said he will sign the bill passed by Congress. The bipartisan vote in the U.S. House broke a yearlong impasse over how to head off $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts set to begin taking effect at the start of this year.

The yen fell past 87 per dollar for the first time in 2 1/2 years after Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated his intention to weaken the nation’s currency. Japan’s Abe said in a New Year statement yesterday that the most urgent issue for his country is to break out of currency appreciation and deflation. “Bold” monetary policy is one of the three prongs of his economic measures, he said.

There was no trade in major markets yesterday, and Japan is closed until Jan. 4 for national holidays.

EUR/USD: during the Asian session, the pair rose to $ 1.3300.

GBP/USD: during the Asian session, the pair rose to $ 1.6380.

USD/JPY: during the Asian session, the pair rose to Y87.30.