Investors take fright at rising chances of Trump US election win

World stocks, the dollar and oil fell on Wednesday, while safe-haven assets such as gold and the Swiss franc rose as investors were rattled by signs the US presidential race was tightening just days before the vote.

Investors were beginning to rethink their long-held bets of a Nov. 8 victory for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton amid signs her Republican rival Donald Trump could be closing the gap, deepening the recent decline across major stock markets.

Asian stocks hit a seven-week low on Wednesday, while European bourses followed Wall Street's lead overnight and slid to a four-month low.

Bonds rose alongside gold, the Swiss franc and Japanese yen, with the yield on 10-year US Treasuries falling for the third day in a row. British gilts, which have recently been slammed by uncertainty surrounding the post-Brexit UK outlook, surged too.

"The lead up to the US presidential election was always expected to be lively but the events of the last couple of days have seriously taken their toll on investor sentiment," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda in London.

Investor anxiety has deepened in recent sessions over a possible Trump victory given uncertainty on the Republican candidate's stance on key issues including foreign policy, trade relations and immigrants, while Clinton is viewed as a candidate of the status quo.

Europe's index of leading 300 shares was last down 0.4 percent, having earlier hit a four-month low of 1,313 points. Britain's Britain's FTSE and Germany's DAX fell 0.4 and 0.7 percent, respectively.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 1.1 percent to seven-week lows while the yen's rise to a two-week high helped push Japan's Nikkei down 1.8 percent.