World stocks hit
record highs on Tuesday, with investors' relief at centrist Emmanuel
Macron's victory in the first round of the French presidential election
supported by speculation about U.S. tax reform.
Wall Street looked set to join the party, with index futures indicating U.S. stock markets would open higher ESc1 1YMc1.
Safe-haven assets such as gold and the Japanese yen retreated as opinion polls suggested Macron would easily beat far-right, anti-EU candidate Marine Le Pen in a May 7 run-off vote for the French presidency.
European shares measured by the STOXX 600 index rose by 0.4 percent, after adding 2.1 percent on Monday. French shares .FCHI were up 0.4 percent, having risen 4.1 percent on Monday in their biggest daily gain since August 2012.
European bank shares .SX7P edged higher after big gains on Monday. The European Central Bank said in a quarterly survey of lenders that while banks would tighten access to credit for companies in the second quarter, lending volumes were still expected to rise.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.6 percent, hovering near its highest level since June 2015 hit earlier in the session, on its fourth straight day of gains.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose more than 1 percent to a three-week high. South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 also advanced 0.7 percent to its highest level since April 2015.
These gains helped push MSCI's world stocks index, comprising shares from 46 countries .MIWO00000PUS to a fresh all-time high of 454.55 points. It last traded just shy of that level, up a quarter percent on the day.
The euro added to Monday's gains against the dollar, rising 0.1 percent to $1.0876, albeit off Monday's high of $1.0940 EUR=.
The yen, however, pulled back 0.7 percent to 110.48 per dollar. Sterling GBP=D3 rose 0.3 percent to $1.2824 and 0.1 percent to 84.80 pence per euro EURGBP=.
The Canadian dollar CAD= fell 0.5 percent to C$1.3561 per U.S. dollar after the United States announced new duties averaging 20 percent on Canadian softwood lumber imports.
Safe-haven assets such as gold and the Japanese yen retreated as opinion polls suggested Macron would easily beat far-right, anti-EU candidate Marine Le Pen in a May 7 run-off vote for the French presidency.
European shares measured by the STOXX 600 index rose by 0.4 percent, after adding 2.1 percent on Monday. French shares .FCHI were up 0.4 percent, having risen 4.1 percent on Monday in their biggest daily gain since August 2012.
European bank shares .SX7P edged higher after big gains on Monday. The European Central Bank said in a quarterly survey of lenders that while banks would tighten access to credit for companies in the second quarter, lending volumes were still expected to rise.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.6 percent, hovering near its highest level since June 2015 hit earlier in the session, on its fourth straight day of gains.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose more than 1 percent to a three-week high. South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 also advanced 0.7 percent to its highest level since April 2015.
These gains helped push MSCI's world stocks index, comprising shares from 46 countries .MIWO00000PUS to a fresh all-time high of 454.55 points. It last traded just shy of that level, up a quarter percent on the day.
The euro added to Monday's gains against the dollar, rising 0.1 percent to $1.0876, albeit off Monday's high of $1.0940 EUR=.
The yen, however, pulled back 0.7 percent to 110.48 per dollar. Sterling GBP=D3 rose 0.3 percent to $1.2824 and 0.1 percent to 84.80 pence per euro EURGBP=.
The Canadian dollar CAD= fell 0.5 percent to C$1.3561 per U.S. dollar after the United States announced new duties averaging 20 percent on Canadian softwood lumber imports.
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