The yen neared 3-Ѕ year highs against the dollar on Monday after a report Japan had ended its $285 billion dollar drive to weaken the yen, while Taiwan shares surged on hopes election turmoil was easing. Oil dropped ahead of an OPEC policy meeting on Wednesday, while gold fell from 10-week highs around $422 an ounce. Shrugging off the yen's strength, exporters such as Canon Inc <7751.T> helped lift Tokyo's Nikkei average <.N225> above 11,800 for the first time in 22 months. The market ended the morning session up 0.5 percent at 11,823.78. The gains saw Japanese government bond (JGB) prices tumble to four-and-a-half month lows. Taiwan shares <.TWII> jumped 4.7 percent after the opposition Nationalist Party said at the weekend it believed a recount in a fiercely contested presidential election could begin within two days. The index, which had been Asia's best performer outside of China this year before the poll, sank 10 percent last week.
An MSCI index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan <.MSCIAPJ> had risen 0.6 percent by 0225 GMT. The yen strengthened to around 105.16 per U.S. dollar on a report from Britain's Times newspaper that Japanese officials believed Tokyo's currency intervention campaign was no longer necessary as the country's economy was gathering strength. But the yen eased back to around 105.64 after Japanese officials said their currency policy was unchanged and intervention would continue if needed. The yen has jumped nearly six percent from around 112 per dollar in just three weeks. "Many still think the authorities will protect the 105 yen level for the (financial) year-end on March 31," said Yoshihiro Nomura, forex section manager at Trust & Custody Services Bank in Tokyo. The Japanese unit also surged to its strongest in 4 Ѕ months against the euro , around 127.50 yen, before trimming gains to trade at 127.90/95.///