Macron's lead over Le pen widens slightly
French independent candidate Emmanuel Macron´s backing among voters ticked higher on Wednesday, as that for his Socialist contender Benoit Hamon slipped.
According to the daily Opinionway poll, in the first round of France´s presidential elections to be held on 23 April Macron was now seen garnering 22.0% of the vote, versus 21% on 21 February.
Centre-right Fillon´s share of the vote was unchanged from the previous day at 21.0%.
Support for Benoit Hamon on the other hand had slipped from 15.0% to 14.0%.
Jean-Luc Melenchon´s vote share remained at 11.0%.
Heading into a hypothetical run-off vote on 7 May, Macron was now seen 18 percentage points ahead of far-right rival Marine Le Pen, at 59.0% to 41.0%, up from a 16 point lead in the previous day.
As of 1240 GMT on Wednesday, the yield on the benchmark 10-year French government bond was lower by one basis point to 1.08% and that on similarly-dated Bunds by four basis points to 0.26%.
During the previous session, the yield on the French OATs had risen by two basis points, as Bunds outperformed, pushing the yield spread between the two securities to over a four-and-a-half-year high.
Markets were reacting, among other things, to an Elabe poll showing a sharp drop in support for Macron versus Le Pen, in comparison to earlier in the month, in the run-off vote.
Worth noting, a live debate between Fillon, Hamon, Le Pen, Macron and Melenchon was scheduled for 20 March, economists at Deutsche Bank said.