The Economist reports that polls indicate that the leftist New Popular Front (NFP) led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon is on track to win a majority of seats in the second round of voting in Sunday’s French parliamentary elections.

Based on early results, the NFP has secured at least 174 seats, followed by President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ensemble alliance with 146. That would still fall far compact of the 289 seats needed to control the lower house.

Meanwhile, Le Pen’s party was pushed to third place, with 142 seats. But that was a significant boost from the previous assembly.

Market reaction

The Euro (EUR) is attracting some sellers after exit polls suggested the final round of French general elections would result in a hung parliament. At the time of going to press, the EUR/USD pair was down 0.13% on the day and was trading at 1.0824.