Euro rises sharply after first round of French election
The euro rose sharply against the dollar and yen after first round of French election.
TOKYO (AFP) - The euro rose sharply against the dollar and yen Monday in early Asian trade after projections from the French presidential election showed pro-EU candidate Emmanuel Macron was set to face the far-right s Marine Le Pen in a run-off.
At 7:10 am (Sunday 2210 GMT) in Tokyo, the European single currency was at $1.0883, against $1.0726 on Friday at 2100 GMT. It had run up as high as $1.0933 earlier.
Against the Japanese currency, the euro was trading at 119.88 yen, against 117.07 yen Friday in New York. It hit 120.88 yen earlier.
On Sunday, Macron led the first round of the presidential vote, with projections based on partial results showing him polling 23-24 percent to Le Pen s 21.6-23 percent.
The two go through to a second round on May 7. Nine other candidates were eliminated.
The prospect "means markets are happy to buy what they see as the fact -- that 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron will be confirmed as the next president of the French republic in two weeks time," Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank wrote in a commentary.
Among those failing to make the cut was Communist-backed eurosceptic Jean-Luc Melenchon, who had enjoyed a late surge ahead of the first-round vote in an election marked by widespread disillusionment with the political class.
"Markets will be reassured that the dreaded Le Pen versus Melenchon run-off has been avoided," Diego Iscaro at research house IHS Markit Economics said in a commentary.
"Moreover, polls have repeatedly suggested that Macron is likely to comfortably beat Le Pen in the second round."
The second round will come down to a battle between the pro-European, pro-globalisation vision of Macron, 39, and Le Pen s hostility to the EU and NATO.
Le Pen, 48, wants France to quit the eurozone, restore border controls and stage a referendum on leaving the EU.
Her critics accuse her of sanitising the image of Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and racism associated with her firebrand father, who started her far-right National Front (FN) party.
Le Pen has predicted the EU "will die" and has vowed to take France out of the euro and hold a referendum on membership of the union.
The proposal has caused alarm, with most polls showing the French against a "Frexit" or a return of the franc, fearing chaos for the eurozone s second-biggest economy.
Le Pen has downplayed the risks, accusing sceptical rivals and economists of scaremongering.
