Asian session: The yen rose against most major peers

The yen rose against most major peers after Japan’s ruling party failed to win an independent majority in upper-house elections and as traders speculated on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ability to push through reforms. Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and its New Komeito ally will have a majority of at least 133 in the 242-seat upper house, according to estimates by state broadcaster NHK. The LDP has controlled the lower house since elections in December.

The greenback held a weekly decline against the euro as Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Bill Gross said he expects the Federal Reserve won’t tighten policy before 2016. “So bonds come out of their coffin and it’s not even Halloween,” Gross, who manages Pimco’s $268 billion Total Return Fund, said in his posting on Twitter. “Bernanke says follow policy rate and we agree.”

Australia’s dollar climbed after officials in China, the South Pacific nation’s biggest trading partner, moved to scrap a rule that had constrained bank lending.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session the pair rose to $ 1.3170

GBP / USD: during the Asian session the pair rose to $ 1.5296

USD / JPY: during the Asian session the pair fell to Y99.60

Weekend reports out of the eurozone were centered mostly on problems in the peripheral economies and the G20 meeting which ended Saturday but none of which contained any major surprises.