TOKYO – The US dollar rallied broadly on Nov 6 as early exit polls in the extremely close US presidential election appeared to give an edge to Republican Donald Trump.
The dollar rose 0.6 per cent against the Singapore currency to 1.322 as at 10.07am.
The dollar index – which measures the currency against six major peers, including the euro and yen – rose 0.76 per cent to 104.14.
The euro dropped 0.77 per cent to US$1.0844, while the dollar added 0.68 per cent to 152.64 yen.
With 10.1 per cent of the vote counted in key battleground state Georgia, Trump had 60.9 per cent to Democrat Kamala Harris’ 38.6 per cent, according to Edison Research.
Trump won eight states in the election while Harris captured three states and Washington, DC, Edison Research projected. The early results were as anticipated, with the contest expected to come down to seven swing states.
Trump’s tariff and immigration policies are seen as inflationary by analysts, buoying the dollar.
Bitcoin climbed more than 3 per cent to US$71,317. Trump is seen as more actively supportive of cryptocurrencies than Ms Harris.
“It is too early to call any of these races and to make any real projections on the results so far, but the US dollar has regained a lot of ground lost recently,” said Mr James Kniveton, a senior corporate forex dealer at Convera.
“Risk currencies such as the AUD that appreciated ahead of a tightening race are having a pullback as Trump racks up some early wins.”
The Aussie slid 0.63 per cent to 65.95 US cents.
The US currency jumped more than 1 per cent to 20.3050 Mexican pesos. It rose 0.46 per cent to 7.1291 yuan in offshore trading. Mexico and China are among countries that stand to be the hardest