SYDNEY: Asian shares crept higher and the Mexican peso jumped on Monday as odds of a victory by Republican nominee Donald Trump for the U.S. presidential bid widened just hours before a debate with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1 percent, while Australian stocks rose 0.4 percent.Tokyo's market was closed for a holiday, but EMini futures for the S&P 500 added 0.3 percent.Trump faces the biggest crisis of his 16-month-old campaign after a tape of him making vulgar comments about women deepened fissures with establishment Republicans.The pressure on him will be intense at the 0100 GMT (9 p.m. ET) debate at Washington University in St. Louis. CNN reported the first questions would be about the video.Presidential betting markets lengthened the odds on a Trump victory, while the FiveThirtyEight site of well-regarded forecaster Nate Silver put the probability of a Clinton win at over 81 percent.Markets generally see Clinton as a known factor with middle of the road policies. "The uncertainty of leaving the single market is causing enormous concern over the future of the UK economy and the funding of its twin deficits," said analysts at ANZ. "Moreover, the rhetoric from the UK government on immigration and EU legislation has hardened of late at the same time as the EU's position is also hardening.

Source: The Star October 09, 2016 23:26 UTC