The dollar slipped in Asian trade today, while share markets were muted after President Barack Obama was re-elected in a knife-edge US presidential election.
As a hard-fought campaign came down to the wire Obama was declared winner after picking up crucial swing states, ending the uncertainty that had pervaded markets for the past few days.
But in afternoon foreign exchange trade the greenback slipped against the euro and yen as dealers bet that under Obama the Federal Reserve would continue with the loose monetary policy that has seen it flood markets with billions of dollars.
The European single currency bought $1.2860 in Tokyo, well up from $1.2788 earlier today and $1.2814 in New York late yesterday. The greenback was at 80.09 yen compared with 80.34 yen in New York.
The dollar was also broadly lower against other Asia-Pacific currencies, falling to $1.0447 against the Australian dollar from $1.0432 while it slipped to 1,086.15 South Korean won from 1,091.20 won.
A clear victory had been the overriding hope as it will now allow the Government to move on fixing the austere “fiscal cliff”, which will dominate discussions in Congress between now and Christmas.
If Congress fails to agree how to cut spending over the medium term, the current deal would force deep, immediate spending cuts that could tip the United States back into recession in a major blow for the slowing global economy.
“Investors have been factoring in his win and adjusting their positions likewise,” said Kengo Suzuki, forex strategist at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo.
“The issue now is the uncertainty surrounding the US fiscal cliff, and how a divided Congress will deal with the issue,” he added.
SHK Financial strategist Daniel So told Dow Jones Newswires: “An Obama victory ensures the continuity of the US monetary policy, which is likely to be kept loose.”
He added that a Romney win would likely see him “launch policies to incentivise fund flow back to the US, so in terms of liquidity inflow an Obama win also favours the Asian markets“.
Wall Street ended with impressive gains ahead of the election results. The Dow rose 1.02 per cent, the S&P 500 climbed 0.79 per cent and the Nasdaq added 0.41 per cent.
However, regional traders were still concerned about Europe’s debt woes, which were stoked yesterday after data showed a bigger-than-expected slump in factory orders in Germany, the euro zone’s biggest economy.