Gold price in the red after centrist Macron wins French election

Gold is trading slightly down from its Friday spot price close of $1,227.90, as investors digest the outcome of the recently-decided French presidential election.

The French overwhelmingly rejected the prospect of a far-right leader at the helm, instead putting centrist Emmanuel Macron, the country's youngest-ever president at 39, into the Elysee Palace. Projections from early counts on Sunday had Macron taking 65.1% of the votes to Marine Le Pen’s 34.9%.

However the Guardian noted the results showed both candidates to be deeply unpopular, with turnout the lowest in more than 40 years, almost one-third of voters choosing neither Macron nor Le Pen, 12 million abstaining and 4.2 million spoiling their ballots.

The effects on gold, which functions as a safe haven during political or economic turmoil, was predictable. After an hour of trading on Sunday, the spot price was down $1.10, or 0.09%.

While LePen campaigned to pull France out of the European monetary and return to the franc, Macron has promised to strengthen France's role inside the EU. His proposed reforms include a common budget for the 19 euro-zone countries, a euro-zone finance minister and a common defense force – all of which have been rejected by Germany before, according to a report in The Globe and Mail explaining what could happen after the election.

The spot price of silver on Sunday was up by 5 cents, to $16.35 an ounce, about an hour into the trading session.

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