The yen appreciated 0.7 percent to 97.58 per dollar, the strongest level since Aug. 29.

The Japanese currency also rose as much as 1.1 percent to 131.38 per euro on demand for safety after Italy’s leaders stopped short yesterday of dissolving Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s five-month old administration.

Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slid 1.9 percent as UniCredit SpA and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, the nation’s biggest banks, dropped more than 2.5 percent. Telecom Italia SpA rose 3.4 percent as a person with knowledge of the matter said Chief Executive Officer Franco Bernabe plans to resign this week.

Italy’s 10-year yield jumped as much as 24 basis points to 4.66 percent, the highest since June 27.

The cost of insuring against losses on Italian government debt climbed to the highest since July 15, with credit-default swaps linked to the sovereign bonds rising 18 basis points to 280 basis points, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg.

Yen Gains

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.8 percent to the lowest level in more than two weeks. Mining companies led losses, with Rio Tinto Group sliding 2.6 percent in London trading, as a measure of Chinese manufacturing compiled by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics missed a preliminary estimate.

The Stoxx 600 has still climbed 4.2 percent in September. The gauge has rallied 8.7 percent since the end of June, on course for the biggest quarterly gain in four years.

The cost of insuring against losses on corporate bonds rose to the highest in a month. The Markit iTraxx Europe Index of credit-default swaps on 125 investment-grade companies increased 4.6 basis points to 106.9 basis points, the most since Aug. 30.

Emerging Markets