Mexican, Latin American stocks rise on Clinton boost

Stocks surged Monday in Mexico and the rest of Latin America on optimism that Hillary Clinton will win the US presidential election, after Mexico-bashing rival Donald Trump spooked regional markets.

After the FBI cleared Clinton following a renewed look into her use of a private email server when she was secretary of state -- good news for her campaign as the clock ticks down to Tuesday's vote -- stocks rallied south of the border.

In Mexico, the target of vitriolic attacks from Trump, stocks closed 2.9 percent higher, after weeks of market volatility that have seen the peso rise and fall along with Clinton's fortunes in the polls.

The peso also closed 2.39 percent higher, at 18.85 to the dollar.

"We expected a recovery of the peso on Monday, but it was bigger than expected," Mercedes Sanabria, trader at the Mexican financial group Casa de Bolsa Ve Por Mas, told AFP.

A Trump win would affect "not only the US economy, but also all the countries that depend completely on that country," Sanabria said, noting that more than 80 percent of Mexican exports go north of the border.

Brazil's Ibovespa index posted gains of 3.98 percent, Argentina's Merval closed up 2.99 percent, Peru's general index rose 1.58 percent and Chile's Ipsa ended 0.9 percent higher.

The regional market rallies followed a worldwide trend, with stocks also surging in Europe and on Wall Street.

Trump's attacks on immigration and free trade have made him deeply unpopular in Latin America, including with the markets.

The Republican candidate has vowed to force Mexico to pay billions of dollars to build a wall along the border, restrict the remittances that immigrants in the United States send home and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Mexican Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade said last week that a Trump victory would "without a doubt" spark more volatility in the markets.

Central bank chief Agustin Carstens, who warned in September that Trump could hit Mexico like a powerful "hurricane," said the government had a contingency plan to weather the storm.

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