Investing.com - The dollar posted slight gains against the yen in early Asian trade on Wednesday as markets stand alert to early exit polls and results from the U.S. presidential election and also note regional data on consumer and producer prices from China are ahead.
USD/JPY changed hands at 105.19, up 0.02%. AUD/USD traded at 0.7748, down 0.18%, while GBP/USD was down 0.17% to 1.2363.
The first U.S. exit polls, which are a projection, are expected to come out on Tuesday night at around 7:00PM ET (00:00 GMT on Wednesday). Results will be declared state by state. If the outcome is clear, the television networks are expected to make their official call at 11:00PM ET (04:00 GMT Wednesday).
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last quoted at 97.88.
In Australia, Westpac consumer sentiment is due with a previous reading of a 1.1% gain. Then in Japan, the current account for September is up, seen at ¥1.960 trillion surplus unadjusted and at ¥1.98 trillion seasonally adjusted.
In China, CPI figures for October are seen up 2.1% year-on-year, with month-on-month data last up 0.7%. PPI figures are expected to show a 0.8% gain year-on-year.
Overnight, the dollar held steady against the other majors currencies on Tuesday, as markets prepared for the results of the U.S. presidential election opposing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Markets were jittery ahead of the results of the U.S. presidential vote, although sentiment remained mildly supported after the FBI informed Congress over the weekend that it had "not changed its conclusions" on the private email server maintained by Hillary Clinton.
The news fueled expectations that the Democratic candidate could win Tuesday’s election, which is seen as more source of stability for financial markets.