London — Gold fell more than 1% on Monday, marking its biggest tumble in more than a month, after the market’s favoured candidate won the first round of the French election, easing concern over a political shock in the second round. Centrist Emmanuel Macron took a big step towards the French presidency on Sunday by winning the first round of voting, with the latest opinion polls showing him as strong favourite to beat far-right candidate Marine le Pen in the final vote. The news represented a huge defeat for anti-EU forces on the right and left of French politics. It also sent European shares vaulting higher, boosted the euro by as much as 2% at one point and sparked a sell-off in safe-haven bullion. Spot gold was down 1% at $1,271/oz by 10.08am GMT, having touched its lowest in nearly two weeks at $1,265.81. US gold futures were down 1.3% at $1,272.40. "For the moment some of the tail risk in the form of a shock win by any of the other candidates has been averted. We see more downs...
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