Pound to Euro exchange rate: Stock markets and Euro soar as as Emmanuel Macron looks set to triumph against Le Pen

Stock markets and the Euro soared today after the pro-Brussels candidate Emmanuel Macron became the red hot favourite to become the youngest ever President of France.

The index of leading French companies, the CAC 40, shot up more than four per cent to its highest level for two years while the European currency strengthened by around one per cent against the dollar.

The burst of market euphoria, which also dragged up the City’s FTSE-100, followed a decisive first round win for the 39-year-old independent candidate who wants to bolster the battered European Union.

He secured 23.8 per cent of the votes compared to 21.4 per cent for his nearest rival, National Front leader Marine Le Pen.

The pair will now go head-to-head in the second and final round on Sunday May 7, as rivals from the conservative Republicans and the ruling Socialist Party queued up to back Mr Macron.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the result and wished Macron “all the best for the next two weeks”.

Analysts said the market surge reflected a huge sense of relief that the run-off would not be between Le Pen and defeated hard left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, both of whom are seen as hostile to the EU.

Diego Iscaro, an economist from forecasters IHS Markit, said: “Markets will be reassured that the dreaded Le Pen versus Mélenchon run-off has been avoided.”

The banking sector was seen as the biggest winner of a likely Macron victory with the Euro Stoxx bank index of leading European lenders shooting up by seven per cent.

Mr Macron said in front of supporters from his En Marche! party in Paris last night: “The French have expressed their desire for change. We’re clearly turning a page in French political history.’

His astonishing victory marked the first time that no candidate from the two “Establishment” parties have progressed beyond the first round in the history of the Fifth Republic, which was founded in 1958.

If Mr Macron does become head of state he will be eight years younger than Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who was 48 when he started the job in 1974.

Most modern presidents have been in their 50s and 60s, although the first, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, was 40 when he became Prince-President in 1848.

Mr Macron, who had never stood in any election before and who only started his En Marche! movement last year, capped his triumph by celebrating until the early hours of this morning.

With him at the historic La Rotonde restaurant in Paris was his wife and former school teacher Brigitte Macron, 65, who is set to become the next first lady.

Ms Le Pen and her boyfriend, fellow FN veteran Lois Aliot, 47, meanwhile pledged that they could still become the next occupants of the Elysee Palace.

She said she would “put the needs of the country first” as she promised a referendum on EU membership, and a clampdown on immigrants.

Ms Le Pen added: “The major issue of this election is runaway globalisation, which is putting our civilisation in danger.

“The French have a very simple choice. Either we continue on the path of complete deregulation, with no borders and no protection, mass immigration and free movement of terrorists, or you choose France.”

French police said six officers and three demonstrators were unrest between protesters and police at the Place de la Bastille.

Protesters waved red flags and sang “No Marine and No Macron!” in anger at the election results.

Some 300 people gathered at a peaceful protest at nearby Place de la Republique, waving red flags and dancing around the flames of a bonfire.