Today, a positive sentiment is expected on European exchanges, judging by the futures indices, as the results of the parliamentary elections in Germany align with expectations.
According to projections, the CDU/CSU Union has won 28.5 percent of the votes, AfD 20.6, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) 16.5, The Greens 11.8, and the Left Party 8.7 percent. This means that the chancellor candidate from the CDU/CSU Union Friedrich Merz could form a coalition government without the far-right, but it remains to be seen whether he will form it with one or two partners.
As a result, the futures DAX Index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is currently up more than 1 percent, while the futures EUROSTOXX 50 is up about 0.4 percent.
The STOXX 600 index of leading European stocks was down 0.2 percent at 9:30 AM. Meanwhile, the London FTSE index strengthened by 0.14 percent to 8,670 points, while the Paris CAC weakened by 0.66 percent to 8,100 points.
Euro Strengthens Against the Dollar, Oil Prices Decline
On the currency markets, the value of the dollar against a basket of currencies has fallen, primarily due to the strengthening of the euro.
The dollar index, which shows the value of the US dollar against the other six major world currencies, slipped 0.3 percent this morning to 106.20 points. At the same time, the dollar exchange rate against the Japanese currency rose by 0.1 percent to 149.45 yen.
However, the US currency weakened against the European currency by 0.5 percent, bringing the price of the euro to 1.0515 dollars.
Oil prices, on the other hand, have slightly declined. The price of a barrel on the London market fell by 0.13 percent to 74.35 dollars, while on the US market, a barrel decreased by 0.26 percent to 70.20 dollars.
Asian Markets Slightly Decline
On most Asian exchanges, stock prices fell on Monday, similar to Wall Street on Friday.
The MSCI index of Asian stocks was down 0.3 percent at 7:00 AM. Meanwhile, stock prices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and South Korea slipped between 0.2 and 0.5 percent. In Australia, however, they slightly increased, while in Japan, trading is closed due to a holiday.
Thus, most Asian exchanges are following the decline in stock prices on Wall Street on Friday, when reports indicating that the growth of the US economy is slowing down and that inflation remains elevated raised concerns among investors.
