Mexican Peso Soars After FBI Decision On Clinton

TOKYO, Nov 7, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 07th Nov, 2016 ) - The Mexican peso soared Monday as the FBI lifted the threat that Hillary Clinton might face criminal charges over her private email server ahead of the closely contested US presidential election.

The announcement, less than two days before America goes to the polls, gave a lift to bets that the market-favoured Clinton will take the presidency over Republican rival Donald Trump. The peso, which rocketed more than two percent in early Asian trading, has tended to gain when investors see Trump's chances of sitting in the Oval Office falter.

The peso climbed to 18.5563 against the dollar, while the Canadian Dollar rose about 0.3 percent to CDN$1.3348 on the greenback. "Low Asian liquidity looks to have exaggerated the moves," said Elias Haddad, a senior Currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.

"Nonetheless, US political uncertainty ahead of Tuesday's presidential elections will continue to generate dollar volatility as most swing-state polls suggest the election outcome will be a close call." Both the peso and Canada's Loonie have been tracking the shifting odds of a Trump presidency, a prospect that has fanned concerns over the region's political and economic ties.

The billionaire Republican candidate's campaign kicked off with an anti-Mexico slant, as he referred to migrants as "killers and rapists".

Trump has vowed to cut off billions of Dollars in remittances sent by migrants to Mexico to make their country pay for a massive wall along the border.

And he pledged to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada if he wins. On Monday, Clinton's presidential bid won support as Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey left unchanged his July recommendation that she not be prosecuted for putting US secrets at risk while serving as secretary of state.

Comey's announcement last month that the FBI was checking newly discovered emails had cast a cloud over the Clinton campaign in the runup to Tuesday's election, while energising Trump. "All that drama and yet the FBI director is sticking to the same conclusion that they had in July with respect to Hillary Clinton's e-mail," Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets UK Ltd told Bloomberg News.

"This is good news for investors who have an appetite for risk in this environment." In other trading, the Japanese Yen sharply weakened as investors moved into higher risk assets. The yen is seen as a safe bet in times of uncertainty. In Tokyo, the dollar was at 104.04 yen, compared with 103.04 yen in New York on Friday.