Euro rises with focus on ECB as dollar retreats
The euro rose on Monday as markets focused on the European Central Bank's tools to fight fragmentation in the currency bloc, even as French President Emmanuel Macron lost an absolute majority in the country's parliamentary election, Reuters reported.
Macron's centrist Ensemble coalition secured the most seats in the National Assembly but fell well short of an absolute majority needed to control parliament, final results showed.
Analysts and traders shrugged off the election results, with the euro rising 0.2% against the dollar to $1.05155, as Macron was expected to stick with his pro-Europe agenda despite the election result.
"Even though a Macron presidency and majority in Parliament would be very positive for euro zone cooperation and so forth, it's more for the long term, it's not something that affects markets here and now," said Ingvild Borgen Gjerde, FX analyst at DNB Markets.
"There's two things that are very important to the euro: What sort of anti-fragmentation tool the ECB can come up with, and the outlook for monetary policy."
Last week, the European Central Bank promised to devise a new anti-fragmentation tool that should provide fresh support for the bloc's indebted southern rim.
The dollar edged 0.2% lower to 134.715 yen , after hitting 135.44 yen in Asia-Pacific trading hours, close to Wednesday's peak of 135.60, the highest since October 1998.