Asian shares surge as FBI deciding not to charge Clinton

Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Monday after FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers during the weekend that the bureau had found no evidence to warrant criminal charges against presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in a trove of newly-discovered emails. Wall Street's proxy for Trump's chances at winning, the Mexican peso rebounded sharply against the dollar.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.4 percent to 17,146.08 and South Korea's Kospi jumped 0.7 percent to 1,996.93. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.5 percent to 22,760.98 while Australia's S&P ASX/200 added 1.3 percent to 5,248.20. Shanghai's Composite index lost 0.2 percent to 3,119.37.

ELECTION UPDATES: In financial trading Sunday evening, Dow Jones index futures jumped about 200 points ahead of Monday's opening, apparently in response to FBI Director James Comey's announcement Sunday that a review of new Hillary Clinton emails did not change the FBI's recommendation that she should not face charges. The market had wilted on Oct. 28 after the FBI notified Congress that it was reviewing new, potentially relevant emails linked to Clinton.

ANALYST COMMENT: "Markets are likely to remove some of the risk premium taken as a precaution against a Trump victory now that Hilary Clinton will not be charged over her use of a private email server," Ric Spooner, a market strategist at CMC Markets said in a commentary Monday. "However, an element of uncertainty remains over this election. It seems unlikely that markets will make a full "risk on" move until Clinton is declared the winner."

LAST WEEK'S WRAP: The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.2 percent to 17,888 on Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index jumped 1.2 percent to 2,105 and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2 percent, to 5,046.

CURRENCIES: The U.S. dollar rose to 104.22 yen by late Monday morning in Tokyo from 103.11 on Friday. The euro slipped to $1.1080 from $1.1142 on Friday. The Mexican peso jumped 1.8 percent. The dollar fell to 18.73 Mexican pesos per dollar from 19.24 to the dollar on Friday.

ENERGY: U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 44 cents to $44.51 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 59 cents on Friday to $44.07. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, gained 36 cents to $45.94 a barrel.