Emmanuel Macron's emphatic victory to bring huge relief to European allies

Macron potrayed himself as the man to revive France's fortunes by recasting a political landscape

Emmanuel Macron was elected French president on Sunday with a business-friendly vision of European integration, defeating Marine Le Pen, a far-right nationalist who threatened to take France out of the European Union.

The centrist’s emphatic victory, which also smashed the dominance of France’s mainstream parties, will bring huge relief to European allies who had feared another populist upheaval to follow Britain’s vote to quit the EU and Donald Trump’s election as US president.

The euro currency, hit a six-month high against the dollar while Asian shares gained and US stocks briefly touched a record high.

With virtually all votes counted, Macron had topped