Europe midday: Cac-40, euro move lower on profit-taking

As of 1145 BST the Stoxx 600 was 0.19% lower at 393.81, the Cac-40 was retreating 0.84% to 5,387.08 and the Dax was off by 0.19% at 12,693.34.

In parallel, the euro was down by 0.42% to 1.0952 against the US dollar, with the latest CFTC data published on 5 May revealing another large reduction in 'short' positions against the single currency - to their lowest since May 2014.

The yield differential between French and German 10-year sovereign bonds on the other hand was continuing to narrow, slipping by two basis points to 41.

The centrist-reformist Macron obtained 66.1% of the ballots, at the upper end of what most polls had predicted, amid a voter turnout of 74.6%, which was largely as expected.

Some analysts, while upbeat, stressed that it was the June parliamentary elections which would decide if he had a clear mandate to move forward with his policy proposals.

"Today's result is a strong victory for President-elect Macron, coming at the upper end what the latest polls had predicted, which nonetheless consistently pointed towards a decent (20pp) gap in the run-up to the second round. It is an important step in ascertaining the policy direction for France, but is not sufficient to gain a complete picture, given the lack of clarity on the outcome of the forthcoming parliamentary elections (11-18 June)," said Francois Cabau and Philippe Gudin at Barclays Research.

For his part, Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital, had this to say: "European equity investors have taken the Macron victory in their stride and are now looking to whether the new president has the muscle to carry out economic reforms. It feels like investors are already pricing in the risk that Macron will not live up to the expectation. With a third of voters backing Le Pen and abstentions highs, there is not universal adoration for the ex-banker."

The proportion of blank votes cast in the French elections hit a record 9%, twice as many as in 2002, when Jacques Chirac faced off against Jean Marie Le Pen.

Manufacturing orders in Germany grew by 1.0% month-on-month in March (consensus: 0.7%), driven by a 4.8% surge in export orders, especially from other euro area economies and for capital and consumer goods.

Dutch chemicals manufacturer Akzo Nobel rejected a third takeover attempt from US rival PPG Industries, saying the mooted price tag of $27bn undervalued the company.

Also in the news, analysts at HSBC downgraded Germany's E.On to 'reduce' from 'hold', trimming their target price from €6.70 to €6.50. They also upgraded their view on Air-France KLM to 'buy'.

India's Royal Enfield was approached by investment bank Evercore to sound out its potential interest in buying Volkswagen's Ducati, according to The Times of India.

Atlantia will be ready to present a 'friendly' binding cash and share offer for Spain's Abertis by the end of this week, La Repubblica reported.