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Former prime minister Alain Juppe revealed he would not stand in the race to replace scandal-hit Francois Fillon - making a Ms Le Pen victory more likely. The news prompted the currency to shed more than 0.3 per cent to hit 1.05 against the dollar to 1.05, while the pound also clawed back previous losses against the euro to 1.15.



A poll on Friday had showed that if Mr Juppe had become the new centre-right candidate, he would likely win the election's first round in April, with Emmanuel Macron coming second - knocking anti-Brussels Ms Le Pen out of the race.



Markets have been on edge ahead of the French elections amid the rising popularity of Front National leader Ms Le Pen.

GETTY The euro has fallen after Marine Le Pen has been boosted in the French elections

Bloomberg The euro fell against the dollar after the Juppe's announcement

The far-right candidate has promised to put a Frexit vote to the public should she win the election.



If France votes out of the euro, markets fear it could spell the end of the project.



After last year's surprise Brexit vote and Donald Trump win, investors are anticipating the French could deal the establishment another blow. FXTM research analyst Lukman Otunuga, said: "Markets simply acknowledged this fresh development as potentially heightening the chances of Marine Le Pen winning the elections which consequently exposed the Euro to further downside losses on Tuesday.



"Sentiment remains firmly bearish towards the Euro moving forward and the growing threat of a possible “Frexit” challenging the future of the European Union should limit future gains. "From a technical standpoint, the EURUSD remains heavily pressured on the daily charts. "Although the pair currently resides in a wide 150 pip range, weakness below the 1.0500 support could encourage a further selloff towards 1.0350."

Things you didn't know about Marine Le Pen Fri, May 5, 2017 Marine Le Pen is a French politician who is the president of the National Front, a national-conservative political party in France and one of its main political forces. Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 10 Described as more democratic and republican than her nationalist father, she has led a movement of "de-demonization of the Front National" to detoxify it and soften its image