German DAX stock market index hits new all-time high

FRANKFURT AM MAIN: Germany's blue-chip share index, the DAX, hit an all-time high Monday, as stock markets across Europe reacted with relief to pro-business French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron's first-round success.

The index of 30 leading stocks flirted with levels just below 12,400 points.

It briefly touched 12,399.91, only slightly higher than the previous record of 12,391 reached in April 2015.

By 0915 GMT, it had fallen back to around 12,390 points, up 2.85 percent since trading opened in Frankfurt.

"We don't expect a sustained jump above the old record," commented Wolfgang Albrecht of LBBW bank. "May is being seen as an especially weak month for markets and that could negatively impact investors' appetite for risk."

With gains for almost all the major firms listed on the index, the biggest winners were lender Commerzbank, which gained 9.32 percent by 0915 GMT to trade at 9.09 euros ($9.88), while bigger rival Deutsche Bank added 7.39 percent to reach 16.72 euros.

Stock markets across Europe shot up Monday after pro-business outsider Macron reached pole position in the first round of presidential voting in France, quieting fears that the continent's second-largest economy could quit the EU and the euro single currency.

While leftwing anti-EU firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon is now out of the race, Macron must still face far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in a runoff on May 7.