The dollar slipped against the yen in Asian trading Monday morning as the landslide victory by the Japan's ruling party in weekend elections gave Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi a mandate to push through economic reforms. The dollar was trading at 109.61 yen in Tokyo midafternoon, down 0.89 yen from late Friday. But the dollar rose against the euro, which fell to US$1.2345 from US$1.2428 late Friday. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner New Komeito Party together now control a two-thirds majority in the lower house, allowing the ruling coalition to overrule defeats of bills in the upper house. The landslide win gives Koizumi a mandate to press ahead with structural reforms, including privatizing the postal system. Many experts say the short-term impact on the yen will be limited, but sentiment will favor the yen more in the coming months. "We expected an LDP win in this election, so this is already factored into the market," said Jun Kitazawa, vice president of foreign exchange at BBH Investment Services. "If Japanese stocks remain steady well after the election, that might attract overseas interest in the yen in the longer term." The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 1.6 percent Monday to finish at 12,896.43 points. Sentiment toward the dollar has been mixed recently as the market has struggled to weigh the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the U.S. economy. It has been unclear whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will continue to raise interest rates, the widely held view before the hurricane.