The euro rose on Monday after the first round of France's snap election put the far-right in pole position, though by a smaller margin than projected, while a downgrade to Japan's first-quarter growth figures knocked the yen lower.
"They (RN) have actually performed a little bit worse than what was expected," said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The yen struggled to gain ground against a broadly weaker dollar, and was last 0.05% lower at 160.93 per dollar.
That could lead to a cut to the Bank of Japan's growth forecasts in fresh quarterly projections due later this month and affect the timing of its next interest rate hike, analysts said.
Elsewhere in Asia, the Chinese yuan - also a victim of stark interest rate differentials with the U.S. - was last 0.02% higher at 7.2981 per dollar in the offshore market.
Persons:
Emmanuel Macron, Carol Kong, Michael Brown, CBA's
Organizations:
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Reserve, New Zealand, Bank of, U.S
Locations:
Japan, Asia