NO matter who wins the race for the White House, markets are betting on one truly safe investment, and that is the currency of a country with bleak economic prospects — Japan.

    Markets had long been pricing in a victory for Democrat Hillary Clinton, but opinion polls over the past week have shown the race narrowing with the outcome now hinging on several battleground states in the Nov. 8 election.

    That has meant investors have had to do some repositioning lately, betting or hedging on one of the candidates or just piling into traditional safe havens such as gold and U.S. Treasuries.

    However, stocks rose and the U.S. dollar rallied yesterday after the FBI said it stood by its earlier recommendation that no criminal charges were warranted against Hillary.

    At least for the short term, it is ironically the Japanese yen — the currency of an economy mired in deflation, slow growth, deeply negative interest rates and a falling stock market — that fund managers think is the safest bet in Asia.

    “If Trump wins, you’ll get risk-off sentiment and you’ll see the dollar losing against the Swiss franc, yen and euro,” said Mary Nicola, investment strategist at Aviva Investors Asia. “If you get a Hillary win, you will get a relief rally in markets so you could potentially see dollar weakness.”

    But the run-up to the election has seen a flight to safety.

    The price of gold is up 3 percent in a month, while shares of gold mining firms have risen. Shares in Australia’s Newcrest Mining have risen 13 percent in a month, with fund managers betting on a further rise should Trump win or if neither candidate emerges a clear winner.

    A Hillary victory represents continuity in foreign and trade policies. It also implies greater regulation for the financial and pharmaceutical sectors in line with commitments from the Democratic Party platform.

    Should Hillary win, emerging market assets should rally, cheering an end to a long spell of uncertainty and the unwinding of trades betting on a Trump presidency, market analysts say.

    But with the odds rising last week of Trump winning the presidency, a lot more market preparations lately have been around the risks that he wins.

    Some investors have held short positions in South Korea’s won, China’s yuan and the Malaysian ringgit — currencies vulnerable to shifts in risk appetite or potentially global trade frictions if Trump wins. (SD-Agencies)