The Euro Begins to Recover

The euro appeared to be on its way on Monday to end a seven-day losing streak against the dollar, as the European single currency rallied after French President Emmanuel Macron defeated far-right rival Marine Le Pen in the first round of the presidential election.

Investors’ concern about the future trends of the euro zone’s second-largest economy had put pressure on the currency and added to concerns about the economic cost of the war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the dollar also rose, supported by increased US bond yields and expectations that the Federal Reserve will move quickly to curb inflation.

Macron is due to race Le Pen in the April 24 run-off in what is expected to be a tight race.

But Macron’s advance in the first round gave the euro some respite from losses and increased in Asian trade, recording $1.0955. In the latest trading, the euro rose 0.4 percent to $1.09150.

However, currency market analysts say the competition is too close, which will have negative repercussions for the euro.

The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of competing currencies, largely stabilized at a level just slightly below the 100 it reached last week for the first time in nearly two years.

While the dollar made some gains, the Japanese yen came under some of the strongest selling pressure as investors saw no reason to pull back on bets against the yen while the Bank of Japan kept yields near zero.

The yen fell to a seven-year low against the dollar on Monday, recording 125.435 yen to the dollar. In the latest trading, it fell to 125.19.

The US dollar gained as much as 0.5 percent against the Australian and New Zealand dollars on Monday before paring those gains. The British pound stabilized against the dollar to a large extent, recording 1.30290 dollars.

The Russian ruble fell in volatile trading on Monday, reversing some of the gains it made last week, after the central bank decided to ease temporary measures to control the movement of capital.