All eyes on French election outcome

A CERTAIN je ne sais quoi quality may embrace the local bourse this week as it, together with the rest of global financial markets, react to the outcome of one of the most extraordinary French presidential election campaigns.

The French voted on Sunday for one of two starkly different candidates to become their president after a bitter campaign and hours before polls opened, it became known that favourite candidate Emmanuel Macron was the target of a hacking attack.

If centrist Macron pulls off a clear win over his far-right rival Marine Le Pen, as opinion polls seem to suggest, relief would sweep across the second largest economy in the eurozone and it would be a sure fillip for the rest of the world too. The key question - will he get an overwhelming mandate?