World leaders welcomed George Bush's victory as a sign that President Reagan's foreign and economic policies will continue uninterrupted, and the U.S. election results triggered rallies today in overseas stock markets.
The Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney stock exchanges all reported surges in prices during active midday trading as news of the election results reached Asia.
Brokers said the election relieved the market of concerns that the United States might adopt more protectionist trade policies and intensify an attack on Japan's trade and monetary policies.
''The Bush victory will trigger a market rally throughout the region that will be sustained for several months to come,'' an analyst in Singapore said.
Analysts in Sydney said the market judged the Bush victory to be a neutral to positive factor, but they remained skeptical on whether Bush would significantly reduce U.S. trade and budget deficits.
The election results did little to slow the slide of the U.S. dollar on overseas markets. The dollar slipped in Japan to 124.65 yen today from a close of 124.73 Tuesday and then opened weaker in European markets.
A dealer with the Japanese foreign exchange bank Yasuda Trust said the dollar fell in part because traders have no reason to believe Bush will do any better at reducing the federal deficit than Reagan did. He added, however, that if Michael Dukakis was elected the dollar would have fallen even further.
The American presidential election was watched closely around the world and many governments immediately cabled messages of congratulations to Bush when his victory became apparent.
Radio Moscow said the Soviet Union welcomed Bush's election because it represents a continuation of the ''realism'' displayed by President Reagan's approach to superpower relations. The official Tass news agency said the biggest problem Bush will face is matching the Reagan administration's record.
A Soviet official said he expects Bush to meet with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev early in his term.
''I think (a summit) will cover the agenda -- it will be arms control, it will be regional conflicts and we have a number of things we want to ask Americans about,'' Georgi Arbatov of the Soviet Union's U.S.-Canada Institute said in an interview on NBC.
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a longtime friend and political ally of President Reagan, said she was pleased that a man in the same mold will assume the presidency.
''The main advantage is the same positive policies of the last eight years, which are very similar to our own, will continue into the future,'' Thatcher said.
In the Middle East, Israel and Egypt, which signed a U.S.-sponsored bilateral peace treaty in 1979, welcomed Bush's election and said they hoped he would pursue policies that fostered a wider peace in the Middle East.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said in a cable to Bush he expected continued good ties with the United States and wished him ''success ... for the cause of peace.''
Arab leaders said they were comfortable with Bush and had been worried about the Middle East policies of his Democratic opponent, Massachussetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. King Fahd of Saudi Arabia telephoned Bush to congratulate him.
But Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said in an interview late Tuesday night: ''For me there is no difference between the two candidates. I will have to deal with an American administration, whoever is in the White House.
In the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip, Palestinian lawyer Fayez Abu Rahme said he believed Bush would seek contacts with the PLO to push for an international Middle East peace conference aimed at resolving the Palestinian issue.
A Kuwaiti diplomat said it was ''insensitive'' of Dukakis to say he would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and suggest moving the U.S. Embassy there.
Arab government officials in the Persian Gulf said Bush's experience in foreign affairs and his support of Reagan's policies made him their preferred candidate.
''If I could have voted in the election it would have been Bush,'' one Arab diplomat said. ''It's not that Bush has more charisma than Dukakis ... but better the devil you know than the devil you don't know.''
In South Africa, where Dukakis had promised to support strict economic sanctions if elected, the minority white government hailed Bush's victory but warned a Democratic majority in Congress still could impose harsher sanctions.
South African President Pieter W. Botha said he looked forward to relations with the United States being ''strengthened on the basis of mutual respect and understanding.'' Foreign Minister Roelof ''Pik'' Botha also warned Bush that the ''American president cannot solve the problems of South Africa. This remains the task of South African leaders.''
The foreign minister said he believed the Bush victory would maintain the momentum in peace talks linking Namibian independence from South Africa to a withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola, and said he hoped Bush would continue to support covert U.S. assistance to Unita rebels in Angola.
Asian governments welcomed the Bush election and most said they hoped he would continue Reagan's economic and foreign policies.
In China, where Bush served as U.S. envoy in 1975 before full diplomatic relations were established between Washington and Beijing, the Foreign Ministry offered ''warm congratulations'' and said it hoped ''the friendly relations and cooperation between China and the U.S. will further develop.''
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Keizo Obuchi said the government was confident Bush will maintain a relationship of ''friendship and cooperation'' with Asian countries. Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said he expects no change in U.S. economic policies, including U.S. views of foreign currency exchange rates.
A message from Philippine President Corazon Aquino offered warm congratulations and gave no hint of the lingering distrust of Bush that persists among some government and media figures because of his statement during a 1981 visit that he admired ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos's ''adherence to democratic principles.''
Philippine Foreign Secretary Raul Manglapus, who recently negotiated a new two-year agreement on U.S. military bases, said the Bush victory ''is a signal to us from the United States government that there would be even more assurance of continuity in the U.S. policy.''
