FX roundup: Sterling lathered lower amid US election soap

Sterling was lathered lower on most major crosses as the acrimonious US election soap rattled towards conclusion, with several polls and investment banks expecting Democrat candidate Hilary Clinton to win the vote.

At about 17:00 GMT, sterling was down 0.9% to $1.2404, and down 0.01% to €1.1236. The dollar-spot index, same time, was up 0.74% to $97.780.

Sterling had dived more than 1% against the Australian and Canadian dollars, and almost 1% versus the New Zealand dollar.

"The market has already shown its hand, a Hilary Clinton (win) is positive for the North American currencies," said Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets.

"The dependency of the Canadian and Mexican economies on the US means it's the Mexican peso, then Canadian dollar, then US dollar that are the biggest beneficiaries," he said.

Spreadex financial analyst Connor Campbell observed that sterling and the euro had been "battered by the resurgent dollar" in Monday's session.

On the continent, Markit's retail purchasing-manager's index for the euro zone fell to 48.6 in October, from September's 49.6. The Sentix investor confidence index for the Eurozone rose to 13.1 in November, from October's reading of 8.5.

Separately, Eurostat revealed the seasonally-adjusted volume of retail trade among the 19 euro-zone countries dropped 0.2% month-on-month in September, the same as the revised fall from August but better than the 0.3% fall estimated by economists.

German factory orders in September fell 0.6% month-on-month, versus an expected rise of 0.2% and from an August gain of 1.0%.

Across the Atlantic, at about 17:00 GMT, the dollar was up 0.95% to €0.9061, up 0.09% against the kiwi to $1.3659, and up 1.44% to 104.6 of Japan's yen.

Still Stateside, separate national polls by Bloomberg and The Washington Post/ABC News showed Clinton with a small lead over Trump, respectively 44-41 and 44-40.

The poll results came after the FBI said over the weekend that a fresh inquiry into Clinton's communications found nothing to change the conclusion it had come to over the summer and that there had been no evidence of criminal wrongdoing after she used a private email server for government work.

Goldman Sachs continued to expect Clinton to triumph, while Morgan Stanley and IG were also pricing in a Clinton presidency.

Accendo Markets research analyst Henry Croft penned the US electoral race as overall a soap opera, noting the second FBI all-clear for Clinton had boosted market confidence.

"The resultant surge in the US dollar, coupled with slides in the pound, euro and gold has seen indices bouncing across the board," Croft opined.

South Africa's rand was a stand-out beneficiary against both the US and UK currencies. The greenback fell 1.72% to 13.3484 rand, while sterling fell 2.69% to 16.5525 rand.