Euro Advances As Macron Wins French Parliamentary Elections

The euro climbed against its major counterparts in the pre-European session on Monday, after French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party won an overwhelming majority in the second round of French parliamentary elections, giving the president a mandate to push through reforms to reinvigorate the economy.

Macron's party, La République en Marche (the Republic on the Move) and its allies had won 350 seats in the 577-member National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament.

This was far higher than the 289 seats required to have an absolute majority to control Parliament.

The results strengthen Macron's power in implementing his programme of business-friendly reforms.

Investors also await the formal start of Brexit talks between the UK and the European Union later in the day.

Ahead of the departure to Brussels for talks, Britain's Brexit minister David Davis said the country wants to strike "a deal like no other in history".

The currency has been trading in a positive territory in the Asian session.

The euro firmed to 124.50 against the yen, its strongest since June 5. The next possible resistance for the euro-franc pair is seen around the 126.00 area.

Data from the Ministry of Finance showed that Japan logged a merchandise trade deficit of 203.367 billion yen in May.

That missed forecasts for a surplus of 43.3 billion yen following the 481.7 billion yen surplus in April.

The single currency hit 4-day highs of 1.1208 against the greenback and 1.4729 against the aussie, from early lows of 1.1189 and 1.4672, respectively. Continuation of the euro's uptrend may lead it to resistance levels of around 1.14 against the greenback and 1.49 against the aussie.

Extending early gains, the euro advanced to a 5-day high of 1.0908 against Swiss franc. On the upside, 1.11 is possibly seen as the next resistance level for the euro-franc pair.

Reversing from an early nearly 2-month low of 1.5341 against the kiwi, the euro edged up to 1.5430. The euro is poised to challenge resistance around the 1.56 level.

The euro that closed Friday's trading at 1.4791 against the loonie rose to 1.4829. If the euro-loonie pair extends gain, it may target 1.49 as the next resistance level.

Looking ahead, Eurozone construction output for April is set for release in the European session.

At 8:00 am ET, New York Fed President William Dudley speaks at the North Country Chamber of Commerce, in Plattsburgh.

Deutsche Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann delivers speech at the Colloquium in memoriam Prof Dr Hans Tietmeyer in Frankfurt at 11:00 am ET.