Asian session: The yen is set for its biggest annual drop against the dollar since 1979

00:00 Japan Bank holiday

00:30 Australia Private Sector Credit, m/m November +0.3% +0.4% +0.3%

00:30 Australia Private Sector Credit, y/y November +3.5% +3.9% +3.8%

The yen is set for its biggest annual drop against the dollar since 1979 amid speculation the Bank of Japan will maintain unprecedented stimulus to support Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic strategy.

The yen has fallen 16 percent in 2013 against a basket of nine other developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes, the biggest slide within the gauge. Hedge funds and other large speculators increased bets on a drop in the yen against the dollar to the most since July 2007. BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s board maintained its pledge to expand Japan’s monetary base by an annual 60 trillion to 70 trillion yen ($667 billion) at a gathering this month. In April, policy makers doubled monthly bond purchases to more than 7 trillion yen to end 15 years of deflation by spurring consumer-price gains toward a 2 percent annual target.

The euro was set for an annual gain versus most peers before data that may confirm manufacturing in the region grew at the fastest pace in more than two years. The euro was set for a yearly advance before a Jan. 2 report that may say a gauge of factory output in the 17-nation region climbed to a 31-month high in December, according to the median estimate of economists polled by Bloomberg News. That would confirm the initial reading published by Markit Economics on Dec. 16.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of $ 1.3790-10

GBP / USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $ 1.6475

USD / JPY: on Asian session the pair traded in the range of Y104.85-15

The last day of the year and the European calendar is very thin. However, across the Atlantic, there is a fairly full calendar in the US. Early data on the Continent sees the release of the French November housing starts and building permits data at 0745GMT. The limited UK data sees the release of the November Land Registry house price index.