PARIS/FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Nervousness has spread on the European stock markets ahead of the second round of parliamentary elections in France on Sunday. Both the leading European index EuroStoxx 50 and its French and German counterparts, the Cac 40 and the Dax, turned slightly negative on Friday. The euro also came under some pressure against the US dollar on the currency market.

Borsians pointed to statements by French politician Marine Le Pen as a burden. She had rejected projections that her right-wing nationalist Rassemblement National (RN) would fall well short of an absolute majority. Instead, she warned of chaotic conditions if the RN did not receive a government mandate.

Should the RN win an absolute majority, President Emmanuel Macron would be under political pressure to appoint a prime minister from the ranks of the right-wing nationalists. This would mean that for the first time since 1997, there would be a so-called cohabitation in France, which means that the president and prime minister represent different political tendencies./la/he