By Yasuhiko Seki and Ron Harui Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The yen fell from a four-week high against the euro on speculation the Bank of Japan will extend its policy of keeping interest rates near zero and adding funds into the economy, diminishing the appeal of the currency. The yen weakened against 15 of its 16 major counterparts after Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said the central bank will persist with its policy of fighting deflation. The dollar approached a one-month low against the pound on concern the recovery of the world’s largest economy will be slow, giving the Federal Reserve little reason to raise borrowing costs. “With an exit from credit easing still some way off in Japan, people feel most comfortable in selling the yen,” said Yousuke Hosokawa, a senior currency dealer in Tokyo at Chuo Mitsui Trust & Banking Co., a unit of Japan’s seventh-largest bank. Japan’s currency declined to 130.87 per euro as of 6:04 a.m. in London from 130.61 in New York last week. It earlier rose to 130.09, the strongest level since Dec. 22. The yen weakened to 91.01 per dollar from 90.77. The dollar fell to $1.6317 per pound from $1.6264 on Jan. 15, when it fell to $1.6355, the lowest since Dec. 16. The U.S. currency was at $1.4378 per euro from $1.4387. Japan’s currency declined after BOJ’s Shirakawa said at a quarterly meeting of regional branch managers in Tokyo that “the central bank is aiming to maintain and extremely accommodative financial environment.” The central bank raised its economic assessment in four of the country’s nine regions, in its quarterly regional report released today. To contact the reporters on this story: Yasuhiko Seki in Tokyo at Yseki5@bloomberg.net; Ron Harui in Singapore at rharui@bloomberg.net.

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