TOKYO – The US dollar rallied sharply on November 6, as the first exit polls in the extremely close US presidential election appeared to give Republican Donald Trump an advantage.

The dollar rose 0.6 per cent against the Singapore currency to 1.322 at 10.07am.

The dollar index, which measures the currency against six major peers including the euro and yen, rose 0.76 percent to 104.14.

The euro fell 0.77 percent to $1.0844, while the dollar added 0.68 percent to 152.64 yen.

With 10.1 percent of the votes counted in the key state of Georgia, Trump won 60.9 percent to Democrat Kamala Harris’ 38.6 percent, according to Edison Research.

Trump won eight states in the election, while Harris captured three states and Washington, D.C., Edison Research projected. The first results were as expected and it was expected that the race would be reduced to seven undecided states.

Trump’s tariff and immigration policies Analysts consider them inflationary, which boosts the dollar.

Bitcoin rose more than 3 percent to $71,317. Trump is seen as a more active supporter of cryptocurrencies than Ms. Harris.

“It’s too early to call any of these races and make any real projections on the results so far, but the US dollar has regained a lot of lost ground recently,” said James Kniveton, a senior corporate currency trader at Convera.

“Risk currencies like the AUD, which appreciated ahead of an increasingly tight race, are suffering a pullback as Trump racks up some early victories.”

The Australian dollar fell 0.63 percent to 65.95 US cents.

The US currency jumped more than 1 percent to 20.3050 Mexican pesos. It rose 0.46 percent to 7.1291 yuan in offshore trading. Mexico and China are among the countries that will be hardest hit by Trump’s tariffs. REUTERS