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![Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States [Xinhua]](http://thebricspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/251755509_8-e1457678698138.jpg)
Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States [Xinhua]
Global stocks suffered a sudden and sharp reversal of fortune early Wednesday as Republican candidate Donald Trump looked increasingly likely to become the 45th president of the United States.
By the time he was declared the winner at 07:45 GMT, the Dow Jones industrial plummeted 827 points, the S&P 500 was down 107 points, and the Nasdaq 100 lost 241 points.
A frenzied selloff at the New York Stock Exchange picked up pace as Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton lost key battleground states, leading to a five per cent drop in value of US stocks.
This triggered an automatic circuit breaker halt on trading.
In Mexico, which was the target of Trump’s ire on illegal immigration, the peso plummeted more than 10 per cent to a record low of 20.33 to the dollar.
In Japan, the Nikkei fell 5.36 per cent to 16,251.54 while South Korea’s already troubled Kospi dropped 2.25 per cent.
China’s benchmark Shanghai composite index fell 0.62 per cent to 3,128.370.
Trump had frequently blamed China for stealing US industry and made campaign promises to work out a new trade policy with Beijing.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, meanwhile, also fell 2.50 per cent to 22,336.
With fears of a Trump presidency expected to produce much of the same economic domino effect as Brexit, the US dollar also tumbled.
At press time, it was down 3.5 per cent to 101.70 yen. The euro rose 2.2 per cent to $1.1265.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
