Investing.com - The pound was up against the euro on Monday as the single currency's rally in the run-up to Sunday's French presidential election came to an end.
EUR/GBP was down 0.34% at 0.8444 at 14.03 BST, a drop on he previous session’s close of 0.8473 and down from the day's high of 0.8488.
The euro rallied for the two weeks between the first and second round of presidential elections in France, as polls predicted a win for pro-EU Emmanuel Macron over far-right anti-EU candidate Marine Le Pen. Macron’s victory sees political risks in France and Europe reduce for the time being.
The rally ended for the euro as it failed to make gains on Monday with markets having already priced-in the Macron victory.
EUR/USD opened above the 1.10 mark, with levels not seen since the US presidential election in November. However, the euro failed to sustain gains and dropped as low as 1.0935. At 13:10 BST, the euro was down 0.55 against the dollar at 1.0936.
The euro was down against the yen at 123.39, a drop of 0.47% for the EUR/JPY from an open of 123.97.
The euro was down against most major currencies despite the Eurozone Sentix Investor Confidence report indicating that investor confidence in the eurozone over the next six months looked positive with a reading of 27.4, up from the previous reading of 23.9.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.41 percent at 98.82 at 12.57 BST, up from the previous session close of 98.42.
European stock markets, having closed at record highs on Friday, reflected the end to the euro’s rally with both the CAC 40 and DAX in negative territory on Monday.
Sterling and the FTSE 100 outperformed the single currency and European markets on Monday as the UK economy looks buoyant and it awaits its own election in a month’s time.
Following Prime Minister Theresa May's call for a snap election, the pound jumped to six-month highs yet had failed to keep up with the pre-election euro gains.
Local election wins for the Conservative party last week further strengthen the position of Theresa May's government ahead of the June 8 general election, with polls also showing a majority win for the Conservative party.
Despite weak GDP growth for the first quarter, the UK economy picked up last week following better than expected PMI data.
The pound was down 0.26% against the dollar at 1.2946 at 13.00 BST, with the GBP/USD day’s high of 1.2990, edging toward the 1.300 mark.
Investors will look at the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Thursday at 12:00 BST for the BoE´s interest rate decision and the release of the quarterly inflation report.