asian shares were mixed on thursday as the possibility that republican candidate donald trump might be voted in as u.s. president kept traders on edge. <u+201c>if [ hillary clinton ] wins the election then it<u+2019>s business as usual,<u+201d> said khiem do, head of asian multiasset at baring asset management. <u+201c>if mr. trump were to win, the market doesn<u+2019>t know what his true policies will be<u+2026>he made very broad statements about policies and he sometimes contradicts himself.<u+201d> christoffer moltke-leth, director of global sales trading at saxo capital markets, said: <u+201c>the base case is most likely hillary clinton [to win]. obviously [if mr. trump wins], which is a possibility that we cannot rule out, it could have impact on risk appetite.<u+201d> hong kong<u+2019>s hang seng index closed down 0.6% and australia<u+2019>s s&p/asx 200 closed 0.1% lower. japan<u+2019>s stock exchange was closed for a holiday. stocks were therefore unable to respond to a 0.7% rise in the japanese yen against the dollar, hitting its strongest level since oct. 4. the dollar has lost more than 1% against the yen in the past two weeks, as traders sought the safe-haven currency amid uncertainties about the u.s. presidential race. the philippine share market continued a bad run<u+2014>the benchmark psei has dropped 7.3% since oct. 19 and closed down 1.3% thursday on concerns about a weaker peso and the uncertainty thrown up by the u.s. election. <u+201c>even before the u.s. election worries, we<u+2019>ve been one of the weakest markets in the region,<u+201d> said ricardo puig, research head at wealth securities, of the philippine share market. china<u+2019>s domestic stocks opened lower, but quickly rose as the country<u+2019>s run of strong economic data continued. activity in china<u+2019>s services sector expanded at a faster pace in october , a private gauge showed thursday, adding to recent signs of firmness in the country<u+2019>s economy. the caixin china services purchasing managers index rose to 52.4 in october from 52.0 in september. a reading above 50 indicates expansion. this has encouraged investors, especially as it comes on top of strong manufacturing pmi data for china released tuesday. <u+201c>i think it<u+2019>s very positive,<u+201d> said mr. moltke-leth about the caixin data. <u+201c>it also confirms to me that china should reach [its] gdp goal for the year.<u+201d> the shanghai composite closed up 0.8%. australia<u+2019>s monthly trade deficit narrowed in september with forecasters expecting surging coal prices to deliver further sharp improvement in coming months. the resource-rich economy posted a seasonally adjusted trade deficit of 1.23 billion australian dollars (us$942.2 million) in september, compared with a deficit of a$1.89 billion in august, the australian bureau of statistics said thursday. the u.s. federal reserve left interest rates unchanged as expected on wednesday, while sending hints that it expects to raise them in december. all eyes will be on the u.s. jobs data due friday for further clues on the health of the country<u+2019>s economy. otherwise, the biggest concern remained the u.s. election next week, with traders struggling to position portfolios to hedge against victory by either candidate. <u+201c>we are seeing support for the bond market<u+2026>good support for gold,<u+201d> said michael mccarthy, chief market strategist at cmc markets. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s a rebalancing of portfolios to acknowledge the risk event next week.<u+201d> <u+2014>saumya vaishampayan, cris larano, james glynn, anjie zheng and liyan qi contributed to this article. write to willa plank at willa.plank@wsj.com
asian shares mixed on u.s. election uncertainty - wsj
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