Politics jolts markets as Japan stocks soar 4%, bitcoin leaps to record high with gold

Japanese stocks surged more than 4% to an all-time high while the yen skidded on Monday after fiscal and monetary dove Sanae Takaichi was elected as leader of the ruling party, putting her on course to become the nation's first female prime minister. Gold climbed to a record peak above $3,900, while leading cryptocurrency bitcoin rallied to a lifetime high on Sunday, with investors increasingly turning to alternative assets as a store of value as the US government shutdown frayed nerves. Japan's Nikkei soared as much as 4.3% to an unprecedented 47,734.04 in the first 15 minutes of trading after Takaichi bested the more moderate Shinjiro Koizumi in the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership vote on Saturday, stoking expectations for fiscal...