TOKYO, Nov 9, (APP/AFP) – The dollar tumbled against the
yen and euro while the Mexican peso fell off a cliff as polling results in the knife-edge US presidential race pointed to a strong showing by Donald Trump.
The greenback plunged 3.8 percent to 101.47 yen and shed more than
two percent against the euro, which bought $1.1232 in Tokyo trading.
The Canadian dollar, meanwhile, also traded lower, with the greenback
rising to about 1.35 to the loonie.
The peso, which has become a proxy for the property mogul’s chances
of becoming US president, slumped to below 20 against the dollar, an historic low.
Financial markets have favoured Democrat Clinton over Republican
Trump, whose wild policy pronouncements have sown uncertainty.
“Of course, I can’t say anything definite at the moment, but the
market atmosphere reminds me of that five months ago,” Daisuke Karakama, market economist at Mizuho Bank said, referring to the Brexit shock.
“Mr Trump has made it clear that he hates a strong dollar, which is a
threat” to the floating-rate system, he added.
His “inward-looking policy” was moving financial markets, Karakama
said.
Analysts say Mexico’s economy could suffer under a Trump presidency
because of his vow to renegotiate a free-trade deal, block migrants’ remittances to their homeland and make the Mexican government pay billions for a massive border wall.