Yen slide deepens as Takaichi triumph in Japan election

The yen extended a string of recent losses in early Asian trading Monday after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi swept to victory in Sunday's election, easing the path to further fiscal stimulus.



The yen slid as much as 0.3% to 157.72 yen against the dollar, its seventh consecutive day of decline, to reach its weakest level in two weeks.



Takaichi is projected to deliver as many as 328 of the 465 seats in parliament's lower house for her Liberal Democratic Party.



Alongside her coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin, Takaichi now ‍has a supermajority of two-thirds of seats, allowing her to override the upper chamber, which she does not control.



"The Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory removes political uncertainty and strengthens policy execution, but shifts market focus squarely to how fiscal policy is designed and communicated," said Shoki Omori, chief desk strategist for rates and FX at Mizuho in Tokyo.



"Risks from fiscal expansion had already been largely priced in before the election," he added.



"The key question now is whether those risks are reinforced or gradually unwind.



" The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was last flat at 97.683, at the start ⁠of a week that will see the release of several key data releases, including retail sales, inflation and Wednesday's delayed jobs report.