* Clinton leads Trump in most polls
* Stocks, dollar little changed
* Oil and gold both advance modestly (Updates with U.S. market open; changes byline, dateline; previous London)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Global equity markets and the dollar were little changed on Tuesday as investors exercised caution at the conclusion of one of the most contentious U.S. presidential election campaigns in history.
The market has been pricing in a win for Democrat Hillary Clinton, including a 2 percent jump in the S&P 500 on Monday after the FBI maintained its view that no criminal charges were warranted in a probe over her email practices. However, sharp election-related swings in recent weeks across all asset classes kept big bets in check with voting underway.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 31.74 points, or 0.17 percent, to 18,291.34, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 1.85 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,133.37 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 2.76 points, or 0.05 percent, to 5,168.93.
The dollar .DXY was down 0.07 percent against a basket of currencies as gold made ground and yields on U.S. Treasuries rose slightly. is going to be a waiting game and likely the calm before the storm tomorrow, which can go either way depending on the outcome," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital in Bernardsville, New Jersey.
At the end of a bruising election campaign, the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation poll gave Clinton a 90 percent chance of defeating Republican Donald Trump and said she was on track to win 303 Electoral College votes out of 270 needed, to Trump's 235. index of leading 300 shares .FTEU3 , which posted its biggest gain in two months on Monday, added 0.3 percent. MSCI's all-country world index .MWD00000PUS was up 0.4 percent after notching its best day since late June on Monday.
Clinton has been the preferred candidate by investors, generally seen as a known quantity, over the political wild card, Trump.
But investors remained wary, noting Britain's shock vote in June to leave the European Union had caught investors and pollsters off guard.
The dollar, was also flat at 18.589 versus the Mexican peso MXN= , which has been a market proxy for sentiment over the U.S. election and has performed in inverse correlation with Trump's perceived chances of winning the White House.
Mexico is considered most vulnerable to Trump's trade policies as 80 percent of its exports go to the United States.
Benchmark 10-year notes slipped 2/32 in price US10YT=RR to yield 1.8333 percent, up slightly from Monday's 1.828 percent. oil futures were mixed, but little changed, with U.S. crude CLc1 up 0.3 percent at $45.03 a barrel and global benchmark Brent LCOc1 flat at $46.19. Oil prices have been largely influenced in recent weeks by the possibility of a planned output cut by oil producers to curb oversupply.
But safety plays were also in favor as gold XAU= edged up 0.01 percent to $1,281 an ounce, clawing back some of its 1.7 percent loss from the previous session.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Global assets in 2016
http://link.reuters.com/dub25t Commodities performance
http://link.reuters.com/rac73w Currencies vs dollar
http://link.reuters.com/tak27s Race to the White House
http://tmsnrt.rs/298mTyD States of the Nation
http://reuters.com/statesofthenation/
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