The peso MXN=D2, which has been hit by the rise of Republican candidate Donald Trump and his policies that are seen hurting Mexico’s economy, extended gains to rise 2.25 percent to 18.584 per dollar.
It was the currency’s strongest intraday level since Oct. 26.
CME-listed peso futures MPv1 surged as electronic trading kicked off on Sunday evening, with the December contract up more than 2 percent at the highest since 0ct. 25. More than 2,800 contracts had traded, which was about triple the volume of trade last Sunday when weekly trading resumed.
Hedge funds and other speculators had ratcheted up bets against the peso in currency futures and options for the first time in four weeks last week, according to weekly positioning data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission published on Friday.
Big speculators were net short the peso by more than 37,000 contracts, an increase of more than 11,000 contracts from the previous week. Still, that was well off the record short-position in the currency of more than 89,000 contracts from late September.
In a letter to Congress on Sunday announcing the end of a review of newly discovered emails related to Clinton’s private server, FBI Director James Comey said the agency had not changed its conclusions from July that no criminal charges were warranted against the presidential contender.
Comey informed Congress of the newly discovered emails more than a week ago, throwing the race for the White House into turmoil and eroding Clinton’s lead over Trump in the final stretch before Tuesday’s vote.
With just two days to go until the Nov. 8 election, Comey’s decision handed a major boost to Clinton, who has been accused of criminality by her rival Trump over her handling of government emails during her time as Secretary of State.
Trump has vowed to build a border wall between Mexico and the United States, threatened to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement, block remittances back to Mexico and deport those living illegally in the United States.
(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Simon Gardner and Chris Reese)
