Update: French market soars to nine-year high on election relief

Tightly fought battle

The French market closed at its highest level since 2008 on the news Emmanuel Macron, leader of the En Marche! party, and National Front leader Marine Le Pen are through to the second round of the French Presidential Election on 7 May.

The French CAC 40 rallied 4.5% on the news by mid-afternoon on Monday, trading at 5,287 points, while the Euro Stoxx 50 was up 3.9% at 3,575, as markets priced in expectations of a Macron presidency.  In Germany, the DAX rose 3.1%, while the Spanish Ibex 35 was up 3.3% and Italy's FTSE MIB was trading 4.1% higher. The euro has jumped to a five-month high, and was trading 1.2% higher against the dollar at $1.0856 by 13.50pm GMT. In the UK, the FTSE 100 was up 1.9% while the FTSE 250 hit a record high of 19,617 after rising 1%. The mid-cap index is largely comprised of UK-focused com...