Asian shares broadly closed up on Tuesday, as polls showed Hillary Clinton performed best in the first US presidential debate.

Democrat Hillary Clinton represents continuity for the markets, with investors largely reacting positively to her performance on TV last night. The presidential race has been neck and neck so fair, with the latest Reuters/Ipsos polling showing Clinton pulling into the lead by 4 percentage points.

Sean Callow, a senior currency analyst at Westpac in Sydney, commented:

“Markets started to call the debate for Hillary within the first 15 minutes or so, with the Mexican peso surging in what is probably its busiest Asian session in years.”

The Mexican peso rallied strongly on the debate, up 1.7 percent against the dollar after plunging to record lows at the prospect of a Trump presidency. Trump’s anti-Mexican rhetoric has raised concerns that his presidency would threaten Mexico’s exports to the United States, its single biggest market.

The Shanghai Composite is up 0.60 percent, with the Nikkei 225 up 0.84 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.09 percent. The FTSE 100 also got off to a good start on Tuesday, rising 0.15 percent in early trade.

27/09/2016