On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 34 points and, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ also slipping 0.2 per cent.

CommSec chief economist Craig James expects the Australian market will follow the US and Europe when it opens on Monday but says there's hope things will pick up with a possible US and China trade agreement on the horizon.

The two countries are expected to restart trade talks at the Group of 20 summit in Japan on June 28-29.

"I think what we're going to see over the week is investment markets basically marking time and just continuing to watch what happens in the discussions between the US and China," Mr James told AAP on Sunday.

"There's high hopes that this time around we may get some sort of agreement on trade, that would be a major success and a major positive for global economies."

Despite increased optimism the trade war could come to a close, rising tensions between the US and Iran are working to keep investors on edge.

Also taking a hit on Friday was the price of iron ore, which fell $1.15.

"But it was substantially higher over the week and I think that was just another example of investors wanting to take some profits," Mr James said.

"We did have the gold price up again, it's at the highest levels we've seen in around five years and if you look at it in Australia dollar terms the gold price is at all-time highs."

In other local news, Reserve Bank Governor Phillip Lowe will front a discussion panel on Monday and could reveal where he sees interest rates going ahead of the Reserve Bank's upcoming board meeting.

The Aussie dollar is buying 69.24 US cents, up from 69.05 US cents on Thursday.

Mr James believes the dollar will hold around that figure in the coming week.

Australian Associated Press