German stocks rose while bonds edged up after Social Democrats captured the biggest share of the vote in a close contest, beating the center-right bloc led by outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The result is likely to result in the SPD party led by Olaf Scholz heading a government, though the alliance led by Armin Laschet also could lead the government. A so-called traffic light coalition, with the SPD, the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats, is seen as the most probable outcome.
“The conservative CDU/CSU and the social-democrat SPD have come out almost neck and neck in Germany’s federal election, meaning either one has the potential to lead a likely moderate coalition government. The left-wing Die Linke party’s poor election showing appears to have ruled out a left-wing alliance, and its likely negative impact on German stocks,” said analysts from the BlackRock Investment Institute.
The yield on the 10-year bund TMBMKDE-10Y, -0.237% fell slightly, to -0.23%, while the German DAX joined other regional benchmarks with advances. The DAX DAX, +1.08% rose 1.1%, while the U.K. FTSE 100 UKX, +0.96% rose 0.9% and the French CAC 40 PX1, +0.67% added 0.6%.
The euro EURUSD, -0.07% fell to $ 1.1706 from $ 1.1721.