US Election 2016: Asia Markets Jolted by Trump Win

Asian stocks have fallen sharply as Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House.

All regional markets closed lower, with money flowing into safe haven stocks, gold and currencies including the yen.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped by 5.4% while European and US markets are expected to slide when trading resumes on Wednesday.

Traders had expected a comfortable Hillary Clinton win.

Dow loss predicted

Some analysts have likened the shock of a Trump victory to the Brexit result earlier this year.

However neither markets nor currencies have swung as wildly as they did after June’s EU referendum – and many Asian markets saw losses narrow towards the end of Wednesday trading.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong finished 2.2% lower and the Shanghai Compositelost 0.6%. Australia’s ASX 200 finished down 1.9% while the Kospi in South Korea ended 2.7% lower.

US stock futures fell sharply with the Dow Jones index expected to lose more than 4% – 800 points when it reopens. London’s FTSE 100 index is predicted to lose more than 3%.

Analysis: Karishma Vaswani, Asia business correspondent

A victory for Donald Trump has been widely seen as negative for Asia’s economies because of his protectionist rhetoric.

He’s talked about slapping tariffs on Chinese imports, and punishing companies that send their work overseas.

Whether he makes good on those threats, and whether his promises turn into policies, we’ll have to wait and see.

But in the meantime, investors have made their own minds up about what a Trump presidency will mean for Asia, and judging by their reaction, it’s not good.

On the trading floor that I’ve been at all day in Singapore, some traders have shaken their heads in disbelief.

One said to me “this feels like Brexit all over again.” It’s that sense of bemusement and bewilderment that has infected markets across the region today, as results have trickled in.

In the days to come, watch for Mr Trump’s comments on trade with China.

For now though, the focus is squarely on the stock markets and currencies – as investors in Asia reassess how the global economy will fare under a former reality TV show host turned leader of the free world.

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Trump vs Clinton: Who is better for Asia?

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionMore than nine million tweets were collected as part of the study

‘Unknown’

The Japanese yen, viewed as a safe haven currency in situations of international volatility, strengthened by 3% against the dollar.

Meanwhile concerns about the impact of a Trump presidency on the Mexican economy saw its currency, the peso, fall more than 13% against the dollar to its lowest level in two decades.

Mexico is expected to suffer if Mr Trump is elected because of his pledges to build a wall along the US border with the country and renegotiate their trade agreement.

Image captionThe US dollar is up more than 13% against the peso

Mr Trump’s victory was a “step into the unknown” said chief US economist at Capital Economics, Paul Ashworth.

“We simply can’t know what type of President Trump will be. Will he be the demagogue from the campaign trail, who threatened to lock up his political opponents, punish the media, build border walls and start a global trade war? Or is he capable of becoming a statesmanlike figure who leads in a more measured manner?”

He added that because Mr Trump appeared to have “only a passing grasp of policy”, it would be important he appointed people with experience to key positions.

Courtesy : BBC