Euro slips to one-month low as Macron calls French election
economictimes.indiatimes.comeuro fell on Monday as the French President Emmanuel Macron called a shock election after being trounced in the European Union vote by the far-right, while the dollar was steady ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting later in the week.
The euro fell to $1.0764, its lowest since May 9, in early trading in Asia. It was last down 0.24% at $1.0776 as investors weighed the implications of renewed political uncertainty in the euro zone's second-biggest economy in a key election year.
Eurosceptic nationalists made the biggest gains in European Parliament elections in the Sunday vote, an aggregated exit poll showed, prompting Macron to take a risky gamble to try to reestablish his authority.
«The prospects of a far right victory in France's snap elections may keep the euro under pressure in the near term,» said Mansoor Mohi-Uddin, chief economist at Bank Of Singapore.
«But the exchange rate is still more likely to be influenced by this week's U.S. inflation data and FOMC meeting.»
The European Central Bank cut rates last week in a well-telegraphed move, but offered few hints about the outlook for monetary policy given that inflation is still above target.
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was at 105.09, the highest since May 30, after rising 0.8% on Friday following data that showed the world's largest economy created a lot more jobs than expected in May.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls expanded by 272,000 jobs last month, data showed, while economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls
