Altair Asset Management will liquidate its Australian shares funds and return "hundreds of millions" of dollars back to clients, citing an impending property market "calamity".

With no overseas cues to guide investor sentiment, selling in the banks and miners dragged the ASX 200 down 0.8 per cent towards 5700 points.

Global political uncertainty and fully valued share markets have investors turning to long-term megatrends to secure attractive returns.

The Australian dollar may fall below US70¢ by year end as one of its key drivers, the Aussie-US bond spread, dwindles to almost zero.

The British elections are getting tighter, which could mean a nervy couple of weeks for pound traders.

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Local shares are set to start the week in positive territory on what is expected to be a light trading session with markets in China, the UK and the US closed for holidays.