The Australian share market is tipped to open softer on Monday as another North Korean missile test and the upcoming French election weigh on local investors.
At the close on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 2.6 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 5,924.1 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 3.2 points, or 0.05 per cent, at 5,947.6 points.
Slightly softer finishes followed on Wall Street and in Europe, which could help set the tone for the Australian market's start to the week, AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver said.
"They aren't big moves but they're still down fractionally and that suggests that we'll probably open a bit softer on Monday," he told AAP.
It comes after a "very positive reaction" to the news that Emmanuel Macron had made it through to the second round of the French presidential election, he said.
French citizens head to the polls on May 7 in a run-off vote to decide between centrist Macron and far-right rival Marine Le Pen.
"There might be a bit of nervousness ahead of that - investors fearing that Le Pen has a chance, which she does," Dr Oliver said.
Dr Oliver said other international developments - namely, a recent and apparently unsuccessful ballistic missile test in North Korea - could also cause disquiet among local investors in the coming week.
"Obviously the risks remain around North Korea so that'll act as a little bit of a concern for investors and might reinforce the case that the market will be down at the open," he said.
Locally, he said a meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday was likely to see rates left on hold.
The RBA's quarterly statement on monetary policy was also due out on Friday while Core Logic was set to issue April's home price data this week.
Dr Oliver said the data could offer a "sigh of relief" if figures reflect softer prices in the sought after Sydney and Melbourne property markets but cautioned against reading too much into monthly data, which could be quite volatile.
