Stock market today: French stocks up 2.8% as far-right party takes lead in first round of elections | YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47 KSEE24

Stocks rose early Monday in Europe, with the benchmark index in Paris up 2.8% after the far-right National Rally took a strong lead in the first round of legislative elections.

Other European markets opened higher, while most Asian markets also advanced.

The euro rose from $1.0744 to $1.0770 as pollsters suggested the National Rally could win a majority in the lower house of parliament. However, the outcome of the vote remains uncertain and the electoral system is complex.

The CAC 40 in Paris jumped 2.8% to 7,688.20, while Germany's DAX climbed 0.9% to 18,394.56. In London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.6% to 8,209.97.

The euro's gains are likely due to relief that far-right parties did not get more votes than expected, economists at ING Economics said in a commentary.

However, the results of the first round do not offer much certainty about the composition of Parliament, and the second round scheduled for next weekend is in fact the high-risk event, he said.

In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.1% to 39,631.06 after a quarterly survey by the Bank of Japan, called tankan, showed a modest improvement in confidence among the country's biggest manufacturers from April to June.

However, the government revised down its growth estimates for the first quarter of the year to an annual rate of minus 2.9%, from a previous figure of minus 1.8%.

Across all sectors and firm sizes, business conditions remained stable at 12, consistent with past form consistent with (quarterly) GDP growth of around 0%, said Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics in assessing the tankan. A further slowdown in GDP growth this quarter would be consistent with the fall in industrial production that firms had been forecasting for June.

The dollar rose further against the Japanese yen and was trading early Monday at 161.04 yen, up from 160.80 yen late Friday.

The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.9% to 2,994.73 after a survey of factory purchasing managers released over the weekend showed conditions remained in contraction for a second straight month.

But a similar survey of private sector manufacturing activity released Monday showed improving business conditions. The Caixin manufacturing PMI rose to 51.8 in June on a scale of 100, from 51.7 the previous month. Readings above 50 are considered to show expansion.

Hong Kong markets were closed for a public holiday.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2% to 7,750.70. South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.2% to 2,804.31 after a private sector survey showed South Korean factory activity was the best since April 2022.

A late-day selloff on Friday left the S&P 500 down 0.4% at 5,460.48 and in the red for the week. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.7% to 17,732.60, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 0.1% lower at 39,118.86.

Despite a gloomy end to the season, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq remain close to their historic highs.

The S&P 500 gained 3.5% in June and is up about 14.5% year to date.

The Nasdaq gained about 6% for the month and is up 18.1% this year.

The decline in big technology stocks, which were the big winners in the market's record rally, weighed on the market on Friday. Apple fell 1.6%, Microsoft fell 1.3% and Meta Platforms ended down 3%.

A report shows that inflation continues to slow. Investors are hoping that slowing inflation will prompt the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates, which remain at their highest level in more than 20 years.

According to the latest personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index, consumer prices rose 2.6% in May compared with a year earlier, a continuation of the decline from 2.7% in April and well below the peak of 7.1% two years ago.

The Fed has kept interest rates at their highest level in more than two decades in an effort to bring inflation back to its 2% target. Other measures of inflation, including the popular consumer price index, have also shown that price pressures are easing.

In other trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 60 cents to $82.14 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, added 57 cents to $85.57 a barrel.