Swing states too close to call in early US results (live video)
CNN electoral vote projection: Romney 169, Obama 157
New York Times electoral vote projection: Romney 160, Obama 148
BBC electoral vote projection: Obama 172, Romney 163
updated at 11:50 am HK
Poll results in the key swing states that will decide the US presidential election remained too close to call on Tuesday even as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney racked up victories in their heartlands.
At 10:45 pm (1045 HKT), the Democratic incumbent Obama held a narrow lead of 158 electoral college votes to the Republican’s 154, and all eyes were turning to the key battleground of Ohio as the probable tie-breaker.
As expected, Obama polled strongly in New England and the industrial northeast, grabbing densely populated states like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, according to news network projections.
His rival Romney did predictably well in the southern bible belt and western prairie states, winning the major prize of Texas and taking back Indiana, which Obama won in 2008, for the Republicans.
But Romney failed to win Michigan, his home state where his father served as governor, and the key battleground states of Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio remained too close to call.