CURRENCIES: Euro Jumps To 5-month High In French Election Relief Rally
April 24 2017 - 7:59AM
Dow Jones News
By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
Centrist Macron clear favorite to win second round of French
presidential election
The euro jumped to a five-month high on Monday after Emmanuel
Macron won the first round of voting in the French presidential
election, easing worries that only anti-European Union candidates
would be in the final runoff.
The euro's run kept a broad measure of dollar strength in check.
The ICE Dollar Index , which compares the buck to a basket of six
rivals, was little changed near 99.06.
Centrist candidate Macron and far-right politician Marine Le Pen
won the most backing in the hotly contested vote Sunday, qualifying
for the final round in May and shutting out the two mainstream
parties.
Investors had feared a "nightmare" scenario
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/here-are-3-things-the-french-election-could-do-to-the-euro-2017-04-21)
in which Le Pen and far-left candidate Jean Luc Melenchon -- both
euroskeptics -- would come out on top in Sunday's ballot, with one
of them emerging as France's next president after the second round
on May 7. However, with almost all the votes counted, Macron had
won 23.9% of the vote and Le Pen was second with 21.4%, followed by
Melenchon and conservative candidate François Fillon at just shy of
20% each.
The euro jumped to an intraday high of $1.0901, up from $1.0727
late Friday in New York. That was the highest trading level for the
shared currency since November, according to FactSet data. More
recently, the shared currency had slipped back to $1.0853, still up
on Friday's levels.
Read:Macron scores a huge win for the center in Europe
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/macron-scores-a-huge-win-for-the-center-in-europe-2017-04-23)
"The market nightmare scenario has been averted with Macron set
to face off against Le Pen in the second round," said Neil Wilson,
senior market analyst at ETX Capital, in a note.
"With pollsters and analysts giving the [Le Pen] virtually no
chance in the second round against Macron, those really big worries
that many had coming into this election -- the risk of 'Frexit' and
a breakup of the eurozone -- have definitely subsided. But they
have not vanished," he added.
Front National leader Le Pen had vowed to put France's eurozone
and EU membership up for a referendum, fueling concerns of a
so-called Frexit.
Read:4 things investors need to know about France's presidential
runoff
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/4-things-investors-need-to-know-about-frances-presidential-runoff-2017-04-23)
The pound bought $1.2815 compared with $1.2812 on Friday.
The greenback rose against the yen , buying Yen110.22, up from
Yen109.07 late Friday.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 24, 2017 07:44 ET (11:44 GMT)
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