French stocks jump as far right takes election lead but seen falling short of majority

French stocks staged a relief rally early Monday after results from the first round of the nation's snap election raised expectations of a hung parliament.

The far-right National Rally party and its allies won 33.1% of the vote, the left-wing NFP alliance was second with 28% and Macron's coalition secured 20%, France's Interior Ministry said Monday.

France's benchmark CAC 40 index was 1.3% higher by 10:17 a.m. London time, off earlier highs of more than 2.5%.

"The election, in the end, tells us pretty much what we knew before, which is that the most likely scenario remains a hung parliament," Sebastian Paris Horvitz, director of research at La Banque Postale Asset Management, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe."

From a market perspective, that is the "least bad" option, he added, although it is far from ideal. "Generally you have a majority to govern France. … After the second round, maybe we are not going to have such a majority. And so we have to figure out how France will be governed."

It comes after economists at Citi and elsewhere warned that an outright victory for either the far-right or leftist alliance could cause a severe market shock given their tax and spending plans, with the potential to spiral into a debt crisis.

"A hung parliament appears likely and would, we believe, be seen as a positive development for European assets, as markets would price in policies on tax and immigration that would more closely resemble the status quo," Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at financial services firm Ebury, said in a note Monday.

"Following their strong showing in the first round, the possibility of a majority for National Rally remains in play, however, which could act to cap gains in the euro in the coming days."

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