Asian shares stumbled and the US dollar was on the defensive on Wednesday as signs that Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump could be closing the gap with his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton spooked investors. Anxiety in markets has deepened over a possible Trump victory given uncertainty on the Republican candidate's stance on several issues including foreign policy, trade relations and immigrants, while Clinton is viewed as a candidate of the status quo.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.4 percent while Japan's Nikkei fell 1.1 percent. The tumultuous presidential race appeared to tighten after news that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was reviewing more emails as part of a probe into Clinton's use of a private email server.
While Clinton held a five-percentage-point lead over Trump, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Monday, some other polls showed her Republican rival ahead by 1-2 percentage points. That pushed U.S. S&P 500 Index down to a four-month closing low on Tuesday. The CBOE volatility index , often seen as investors' fear gauge, briefly rose to a two-month high above 20 percent.
Asian shares stumbled and the US dollar was on the defensive on Wednesday as signs that Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump could be closing the gap with his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton spooked investors. Anxiety in markets has deepened over a possible Trump victory given uncertainty on the Republican candidate's stance on several issues including foreign policy, trade relations and immigrants, while Clinton is viewed as a candidate of the status quo. 
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