Asian stocks have fallen sharply as Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House.

All regional markets closed lower, with money flowing into safe haven stocks, gold and currencies including the yen.

Japan's Nikkei 225 closed down by 5.4% while European and US markets are expected to drop when trading resumes on Wednesday.

Traders had expected a comfortable Hillary Clinton win.

Dow loss predicted

Some analysts have likened the shock of a Trump victory to the Brexit result earlier this year.

However neither markets nor currencies have swung as wildly as they did after June's EU referendum - and many Asian markets saw losses narrow towards the end of Wednesday trading.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong finished 3.1% lower and the Shanghai Composite lost 0.6%. Australia's ASX 200 finished down 1.9% while the Kospi in South Korea ended 2.7% lower.

US stock futures fell sharply with the Dow Jones index expected to lose more than 4% - 800 points when it reopens. London's FTSE 100 index is predicted to lose more than 3%.

'Unknown'

The Japanese yen, viewed as a safe haven currency in situations of international volatility, strengthened by 3% against the dollar.

Meanwhile concerns about the impact of a Trump presidency on the Mexican economy saw its currency, the peso, fall more than 13% against the dollar to its lowest level in two decades.

Mexico is expected to suffer if Mr Trump is elected because of his pledges to build a wall along the US border with the country and renegotiate their trade agreement.

Mr Trump's victory was a "step into the unknown" said chief US economist at Capital Economics, Paul Ashworth.

"We simply can't know what type of President Trump will be. Will he be the demagogue from the campaign trail, who threatened to lock up his political opponents, punish the media, build border walls and start a global trade war? Or is he capable of becoming a statesmanlike figure who leads in a more measured manner?"

He added that because Mr Trump appeared to have "only a passing grasp of policy", it would be important he appointed people with experience to key positions.