TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. stocks jumped and the U.S. dollar and the Mexican peso soared early on Monday after the FBI said it stood by its earlier recommendation that no criminal charges were warranted against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The news boosted U.S. S&P 500 Index futures 1.2 percent, a gain that is likely to snap the nine-day losing streak in the U.S. stock index - its longest in more than 35 years.
Investors had been unnerved by signs of a tightening presidential race between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, whose stance on foreign policy, trade and immigration has rippled through financial markets.
Clinton is seen as a candidate of the status quo and her policies are viewed as more predictable than her Republican rival, a political novice.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 percent as Australian shares gained 0.7 percent. Japan's Nikkei looks set to gain 1.5 percent based on Chicago-traded futures.
The FBI said on Sunday it stood by its earlier finding that no criminal charges were warranted against Clinton for using a private email server for government work, lifting a cloud over her presidential campaign two days before the U.S. election.
FBI Director James Comey made the announcement in a letter to Congress, saying the agency had worked "around the clock" to complete its review of newly discovered emails and found no reason to change its July finding.
The review of the emails had rattled financial markets and so the latest news triggered a relief rally.
In the currency market, the dollar rose as much as 1.4 percent against the yen and last stood at 103.96 yen, up 0.8 percent from late U.S. levels while the euro dropped 0.5 percent to $1.1089.
The biggest winner was the Mexican peso, which has acted as something of a bellwether of sentiment as Trump's proposed policies are considered to be deeply negative for the country.
The peso 19.03 rose 2.2 percent to 18.61 to the dollar, hitting its highest level since Oct 26.
(Reporting by Hideyuki Sano; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)