Euro hits 6-month high, Asia shares firm after French vote relief

The euro hit a six-month high against the dollar on Monday while Asian shares gained and U.S. stock futures briefly touched a record high, on investor relief after centrist Emmanuel Macron comfortably won the French presidential election.

Macron's emphatic victory brought comfort to investors and European allies alike, who had been nervous about the risk of another populist upheaval, following Britain's vote to quit the EU and Donald Trump's election as U.S. president - neither of which had been predicted by pollsters or bookmakers.

European shares look set to advance, with financial spread betters expecting a 0.9 percent gain in France's CAC .FCHI, up 0.8 percent in Germany's DAX .GDAXI and 0.4 percent higher in Britain's FTSE .FTSE.

The common currency gave up gains later, with some market participants citing uncertainties on whether Macron's, rebranded La Republique En Marche, can get a parliamentary majority in elections in June, as a factor.

The euro rose to as high as $1.1024 EUR=, its highest in about six months, before stepping back to $1.0984, 0.1 percent below late U.S. levels last week.

Earlier the common currency hit a one-year high of 124.58 yen EURJPY=R and a five-month high of 1.08865 Swiss franc EURCHF=R.

Easing risk aversion helped the dollar rise to a seven-week high 113.14 yen JPY=.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS added 0.8 percent, snapping a three-day losing streak.

Japan's Nikkei .N225 gained 2.3 percent to hit a near 1 1/2-year high after a five-day weekend due to the Golden Week holidays.

The S&P 500 mini futures ESc1 gained 0.2 percent to hit a record high of 2,403.75 in early trade before giving up the gains to trade flat.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives won a decisive victory in a vote in Germany's northern state of Schleswig-Holstein on Sunday, boosting her prospects of winning a national election in September.