The euro rises with a focus on ECB

The euro rose on Monday as markets focused on the European Central Bank’s anti-fragmentation tools in the eurozone, even as French President Emmanuel Macron lost an outright majority in legislative elections.

The final results showed that Macron’s “Together” alliance obtained the largest number of votes in the National Assembly elections, but did not achieve an absolute majority that would enable it to control Parliament.

Analysts and traders ignored the election results, and the euro rose 0.2 percent against the dollar to $1.05155, as Macron is expected to stick to his pro-European policies despite the election results.

The dollar fell slightly by 0.2 percent against the yen to 134.715 yen against the dollar, after reaching 135.44 yen in Asian trading, close to its peak of 135.60 yen recorded on Wednesday, the highest level reached by the dollar against the yen since October 1998.

The dollar index, which measures its value against a basket of six currencies, including the euro and the yen, fell 0.25 percent to 104.44 yen, but remained close to its highest level in 20 years of 105.79 recorded on Wednesday, the day the Federal Reserve raised. The interest rate is 75 basis points in an attempt to contain inflation.

The dollar fell 0.4 percent to 0.96525 Swiss francs and rose slightly against the pound to 1.2232 dollars.

The Australian dollar jumped 0.6 percent to $0.6980.