The Christian Democrats won with 28.6% of the vote while the far-right Alternative for Germany came second with 20.8%.

Provisional results confirmed that mainstream conservatives led by Friedrich Merz won Germany's national election​, while far-right party AfD surged to become the nation's second-largest.

Germany faces its second change of leader in less than four years after the head of the center-right opposition won Sunday’s election.

Wall Street struggled for traction on Monday, ending mixed after slumping last week, while German election results buoyed German shares and Europe's single currency as investors waited for midweek results from artificial intelligence chip leader Nvidia.

Germany’s highest-stakes election in years is paving the way for a pivot to increased spending, with markets predicting the end of an era for constrained fiscal policy.