Oil prices fell yesterday as oversupply concerns resurfaced, while the euro and stocks dipped ahead of the first round in a too-close-to-call French presidential election.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, an anti-EU politician who wants to ditch the euro and narrowly trails front-runner Emmanuel Macron in French opinion polls, seized on the killing of a policeman by a suspected Islamist militant to push her policies on national security.

“Although Macron has been labelled as favourite to become the next French president, an unexpected Le Pen victory could deal a symbolic blow to the unity of the European Union and ultimately create a tidal wave of risk aversion,” FXTM analyst Lukman Otunuga said in a note.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 8.87 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 20,587.58, the S&P 500 lost 2.75 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 2,353.09 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.02 points, or 0 per cent, to 5,916.80.

Utilities and technology were the only S&P 500 sectors firmly in the black. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.13 per cent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.08 per cent.

Emerging market stocks rose 0.30 per cent. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.45 per cent higher, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.03 per cent.

Doubts that an Opec-led production cut will restore balance to an oversupplied market weighed on crude futures, with prices set to post their largest weekly drop in six.

United States crude fell 1.97 per cent to $49.71 per barrel and Brent was last at $52.06, down 1.76 per cent on the day.

In currency markets, the euro edged lower against the dollar as investors braced for the first round tomorrow of a tight French presidential election race, while the dollar steadied as investors squared positions ahead of the French vote.

“Traders understandably look content to flatten their books and ride out the weekend’s events from the sidelines,” Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington, said in a note.

The dollar index rose 0.2 per cent, with the euro down 0.2 per cent to $1.0693.

The Japanese yen strengthened 0.17 per cent versus the greenback at 109.17 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2768, down 0.31 per cent on the day.

US Treasury prices gained slightly with eyes on France and no major US economic releases due to set market direction. 10-year note yields have held in a tight range since falling to five-month lows on Tuesday, as investors await a catalyst to determine if bonds will continue their rally.

Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 5/32 in price to yield 2.2231 per cent, from 2.241 per cent late on Thursday.

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