Political uncertainty ahead of European elections gave nervous investors a reason to sell the euro and kept French government debt under pressure yesterday, while the price of safe-haven gold hit three-month highs.

Wall Street stocks opened lower, weighed down by losses in the banking and healthcare sector, and European share prices turned negative, while oil recovered after a surprise draw in gasoline stockpiles.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 39 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 20,051.29 late morning in New York. The S&P 500 lost 0.66 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 2,292.42 and the Nasdaq Composite added 2.84 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 5,677.05.

Three months before the final round of France’s presidential election, investors are concerned about the strong showing of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who has promised to take France out of the euro zone and to hold a referendum on European Union membership. Eurozone government bond yields fell broadly, though French debt lagged the rest with 10-year yields falling three basis points to 1.1 per cent but remain not far off the 17-month highs touched on Monday. Low-risk German equivalents fell 5.4 bps to 0.31 per cent, a two-week low.

This pushed the spread between the two yields at one point to more than 78 bps, its widest since November 2012, a move that was also fuelled by expectations that the European Central Bank’s bond-buying stimulus scheme has peaked.

“If you step back, the big picture still remains - that of political concerns in Europe concomitant with speculation over ECB tapering,” said Rabobank’s head of rates strategy Richard McGuire.

The premium investors demand to hold low-rated Italian 10-year bonds rather than German Bunds hit its highest since 2014.

Apart from German debt, investors also bought gold, which is seen as a safe investment. Spot gold hit a three-month high of $1,244.67 an ounce.