UKX FTSE 100 Index

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

Akzo Nobel climbs; U.K. inflation jumps by a faster-than-anticipated pace

French stocks rose Tuesday, outperforming other European equities, after respondents in a poll showed they favored center-right politician Emmanuel Macron in the first debate between the candidates running to become France's next president.

The poll result also spurred the euro to shoot up to a six-week high against the U.S. dollar (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/euro-jumps-vs-dollar-hitting-6-week-high-of-108-after-french-presidential-debate-2017-03-21).

France's CAC 40 rose 0.3% to 5,025.55, stronger than the Stoxx Europe 600's rise of less than 1 point to 377.77.

The euro was buying $1.0797, trading around its highest since early February, compared with $1.0741 late Monday in New York.

The moves came after an Elabe poll (https://twitter.com/elabe_fr/status/843978193161932800) showed 29% of viewers who watched Monday's night debate thought Macron was the most convincing candidate (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/frances-presidential-upstart-macron-clashes-with-le-pen-fillon-in-tv-debate-2017-03-21) to become the next president. Far-right National Front party leader Marine Le Pen was favored by 19% of viewers and conservative Francois Fillon landed 20% approval. Many investors are concerned about Le Pen as she wants France to leave the European Union and ditch the euro.

"The fight between populism and globalism was live in yesterday's French presidential debate. The [euro] declared that centrist and former investment banker, Emmanuel Macron, won this round," said FXTM chief market strategist Hussein Sayed, in a note.

"However, I suggest not to jump into conclusions given that 40% of voters have not decided whom to back yet, and we already learned a lesson from the Brexit vote and U.S. presidential elections," he added.

In the fixed-income market, the yield on the French 10-year bond rose 2 basis points to 1.12%, according to Tradeweb.

Movers: Akzo Nobel NV (AKZOY) (AKZOY) pushed 3.7% higher as PPG Industries Inc. (PPG) is said to be preparing another bid for the Dutch paints and chemicals company (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ppg-prepares-new-bid-for-akzo-nobel-after-first-offer-failed-bloomberg-2017-03-21) after its first attempt failed earlier in March, according to Bloomberg.

Indexes: Germany's DAX 30 index was up 0.1% at 12,064.84. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 0.2% to 7,418.53 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-edges-up-with-banks-higher-ahead-of-inflation-data-2017-03-21), turning lower as the pound jumped after U.K. inflation rose a faster-than-expected rate of 2.3% in February.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 21, 2017 06:14 ET (10:14 GMT)

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