Mexico’s peso firmed sharply after exit polls showed leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador handily won Mexico’s presidential election on Sunday, as widely expected by financial markets.
The peso <mxn=>extended gains after Lopez Obrador’s rivals conceded defeat, strengthening around 1 percent against the U.S. dollar and leading gains among major currencies. One exit poll by Parametria showed Lopez Obrador ahead by 20 percentage points.</mxn=>
Jose Antonio Meade, the candidate of the ruling centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, conceded the election to Lopez Obrador, a 64-year-old former Mexico City mayor, shortly after polls closed. Other rivals followed suit.
“The exchange rate appreciated after Meade declared himself a loser, which in some way gives the market peace of mind that there will be no confrontation between the different candidates,” said Gabriela Siller, an economist at Mexican bank BASE.
