Japanese shares rise and yen dips on Abe win

A convincing election win by Shinzo Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party(LDP) boosted Japanese equities and caused the yen to weaken.

The Nikkei 225 index rose 1% while the Japanese currency fell to a 20-month low of 84.48 yen against the US dollar. Abe's LDP, which held on to 50 years of unbroken rule until 2009, is projected to have an overall majority in the new parliament, the BBC reports. Japanese media project big gains for the LDP which is on course to win between 275 to 310 seats in the 480-member house. Its ally, the small New Komeito party, looks set to win about 30 seats to possibly give the alliance a two-thirds majority in the lower house. That would give Abe the power to over-rule parliament's up...