For the past few months it seemed that only international events could move Mexico’s stock and bond markets, even though the country was in the throes of a tight election race involving two candidates with radically different platforms.

In March, for example, when opinion polls showed Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the leftwing presidential candidate, the most likely to win the July 2 election, markets kept going up. In May, when they showed the business-friendly Felipe Calderón in the lead, they fell in line with other emerging markets.