Investors rattled after Trump looks like he’s closing the gap
Print Edition
WORLD stocks, the dollar and oil all fell yesterday, while safe-haven assets such as gold and the Swiss franc rose as investors were rattled by signs the US presidential race is tightening just days before the vote.
Investors were beginning to rethink their long-held bets of a November 8 victory for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton amid signs her Republican rival Donald Trump could be closing the gap, deepening the recent decline across major stock markets.
Asian stocks hit a seven-week low yesterday, while European bourses followed Wall Street’s lead overnight and slid to a four-month low.
Bonds rose alongside gold, the Swiss franc and Japanese yen, with the yield on 10-year US Treasuries falling for the third day in a row. British gilts, recently slammed by uncertainty surrounding the post-Brexit UK outlook, surged too.
“Trump is seen as narrowing the gap with Clinton. Markets ... have succumbed to a risk-off pattern in recent days as a result,” Rabobank analysts wrote to clients yesterday.
“Whilst this is still very far from outright panic, it does indicate that market participants are taking precautions.”
Investor anxiety has deepened in recent sessions over a possible Trump victory given uncertainty over his stance on key issues including foreign policy, trade relations and immigrants, while Clinton is viewed as a candidate of the status quo.
Europe’s index of leading 300 shares was down 0.65 percent in early trading, touching a four-month low of 1,313 points, while Britain’s FTSE and Germany’s DAX fell 0.5 and 0.8 percent, respectively.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 1.2 percent to seven-week lows while the yen’s rise to a two-week high helped push Japan’s Nikkei down 1.8 percent.
The presidential race appeared to tighten after news that the FBI was reviewing more e-mails as part of an investigation into Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server.
While Clinton held a 5-percentage point lead over Trump, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Monday, some other polls showed her Republican rival ahead by 1-2 percentage points.
The dollar fell again yesterday, after posting its biggest one-day fall on Tuesday in two months.
The Swiss franc hit a four-month high of 1.0750 francs per euro, its highest level since late June, while gold reached a four-week high of US$1,313 an ounce. Oil prices fell for the fourth day in a row.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
