Finance news you need to know today

FRENCH centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen have clung on as frontrunners in France’s tight presidential race.

HERE are eight things making news in business and finance today.

1. SYDNEY — The Australian share market is set to open a touch higher despite falls in global markets amid growing concerns about the military tension in Syria and North Korea. At 0650 AEST on Wednesday, the share price futures index was up 14 points, or 0.24 per cent, at 5,932.

2. SYDNEY — The Australian dollar has fallen as a risk-off mood triggered by geopolitical military tensions sweeps the markets. At 0650 AEST on Wednesday, the Australian dollar was at 74.97 US cents, down from 75.03 cents on Thursday.

3. LUCCA, Italy/MOSCOW — US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson carried a message from world powers to Moscow on Tuesday denouncing Russian support for Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, as the Trump administration took on America’s traditional mantle as leader of a unified West.

4. PARIS — French centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen clung on as frontrunners in France’s tight presidential race on Tuesday, but the unpredictable outcome is pushing some pollsters to calculate the most extreme run-off scenarios.

5. BRUSSELS — The European Union should tell London to cut red tape that makes it hard for EU expats to confirm their residence in Britain, senior EU officials said after a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday to prepare for Brexit talks.

6. ROME — Italy on Tuesday approved emergency deficit cuts for this year, as promised to the European Commission, and said the economy would continue to grow only modestly this year and next.

7. BRASILIA — A Brazilian supreme court justice has ordered investigations into 71 sitting politicians and nine ministers in President Michel Temer’s cabinet allegedly linked to the country’s biggest-ever corruption scandal, Estado de S. Paulo reported on Tuesday.

8. NEW YORK — United Airlines Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz on Tuesday issued an apology for the treatment of a passenger dragged from aboard one of its flights before takeoff on Sunday.