The U.S. dollar fell

The U.S. dollar fell against the yen Friday from its highest level since March, ahead of Japan's general election over the weekend. The ICE dollar index (DXY), which measures the greenback against a basket of six rival currencies, fell to 79.543 in afternoon trade from 79.925 in late North America trade on Thursday. The dollar turned down to Yen83.51 from Yen83.65 the prior day. The biggest event coming up for currency traders is Sunday's election in Japan, when Liberal Democratic Party leader Shinzo Abe is expected to return to power. The dollar rose over the last several days to its highest level since March versus the yen on expectations that Abe will follow through on calls for more aggressive monetary easing and higher inflation.