Asian Stocks Struggle On US Election Worries

HONG KONG, , (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Oct, 2016 ) - Asian traders moved cautiously Monday as news that the FBI would further probe Hillary Clinton's emails fuelled fresh uncertainty about the outcome of the US presidential election just eight days before the vote.

Traders globally had broadly expected Democratic candidate and Wall Street favourite Clinton to sweep to victory, with her rival Donald Trump considered a loose cannon. But FBI chief James Comey's announcement that he was again looking at her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state sent shudders through trading floors, with US stocks tumbling and the Dollar taking a hit.

The sell-off filtered through to Asia, where dealers are also nervously awaiting a series of key events this week, including central bank policy meetings in Japan and the US and the release of US jobs figures Friday.

Trading conditions this week will be "slippery and shifty", said Stephen Innes, senior trader at forex firm OANDA. "The Calendar is full of high-risk events making for a treacherous path to navigate in the lead-up the monumental November 8 US election," he said in a note.

Tokyo's Nikkei ended 0.1 percent lower and Shanghai closed 0.1 percent off, while Seoul slipped 0.6 percent and Taipei was 0.2 percent off. But Hong Kong reversed early gains to sit 0.2 percent higher in the afternoon and Sydney rose 0.6 percent.

The development also caused the dollar to wobble, falling to 104.73 Yen in New York Friday from 105.30 yen earlier in the day in Asia. On Monday it struggled to bounce back, sitting at 104.80 yen, while it also edged up against the pound and euro.

It held most gains against the Mexican peso on worries about a possible win by Trump, who has promised to tear up a trade deal between the two countries and build a wall on their border. The dollar bought 18.9340 pesos in Asia, having broken 19.10 pesos Friday, and well up from the 18.8190 on Thursday.

"Until the election, the general theme will be uncertainty, which will have implications not just on the stock market, but on the dollar and Treasuries," Chad Morganlander, a money manager at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co in the US, told Bloomberg News.