Far-right leader and candidate for the 2017 French presidential election, Marine Le Pen, surrounded by bodyguards, celebrates with supporters after exit poll results of the first round of the presidential election were announced at her election headquarters in Henin-Beaumont, northern France on Sunday.
France's political mainstream, shut out of the presidency by an angry electorate, united on Monday to call on voters to back centrist Emmanuel Macron and reject Marine Le Pen's populist nationalism.
"If you are a Japanese former holder of French sovereign debt, you probably can't just buy it all back straight away, it may be people will wait until the second round", said Richard Benson, co-head of portfolio investment with currency fund Millennium Global in London.
French politicians on the left and right immediately urged voters to block Le Pen's path to power in the May 7 runoff, saying her virulently nationalist anti-EU and anti-immigration politics would spell disaster for France. They will face off in a second round on May 7.
"They expressed concern about bubbles and credit defaults".
In a victory speech, Macron told supporters of his fledgling En Marche!
Le Pen, who has hardened her anti-immigration and anti-Europe rhetoric over the past week, hailed a "historic vote" in front of her supporters, adding: "The first stage has been passed".
It reduces the prospect of an anti-establishment shock on the scale of Britain's vote last June to quit the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as US president. The leader of the National Front has campaigned on a promise to ditch the euro and pull France out of the European Union.
"Chances are that France will get the economic reforms it needs to revive its fortunes and catch up with Germany", said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank.
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Also Monday, suspected rebels shot and killed a pro-India politician, Abdul Gani, near the town of Pulwama, police said. The students retaliated by hurling rocks and breaching the barricades set up by police and paramilitary soldiers.
Le Pen follows in the footsteps of her father Jean-Marie, who made it through to the 2002 presidential run-off in what came as a political quake for France.
Le Pen Senior went on to suffer a stinging defeat when mainstream parties closed ranks to keep him out.
Analysts say the fact that opinion polls had consistently predicted a Macron-Le Pen run-off could boost market confidence because the polls suggest Macron should easily win the second round. "The major issue of this election is runaway globalisation, which is putting our civilisation in danger", she told supporters. She portrayed her duel with Macron as a battle between "patriots" and "wild deregulation" - warning of job losses overseas, mass migration straining resources at home and "the free circulation of terrorists".
Far-right expert Nonna Mayer at Sciences Po university said a Le Pen victory was not impossible, "but it seems unlikely that she will carry the second round". Europe could benefit too from a renewed effort by France and Germany to strengthen the cohesion of the eurozone, he added.
Macron also drew immediate support from his defeated rivals from the Socialists and Republicans. Nine other candidates were eliminated.
It was a bitter night for Fillon, seen as a shoo-in for the Elysee until he was hit in January by allegations that his wife had been paid from the public purse for work she did not do. He was on course for around 19.6 per cent of the vote, underlining the strength of anti-establishment sentiment.
"The voters who voted for Mr. Melenchon are angry voters".
Voting took place amid heightened security in the first election under France's state of emergency, which has been in place since gun-and-bomb attacks in Paris in 2015.
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