Weak job numbers announced in the United States on Friday are one reason analysts think the stock market rally might run out of steam this week.
One of the main events this week is a meeting of the US Federal Reserve when it the Fed is widely expected to introduce new stimulus measures.
The Dow Jones Index closed up 14 points, at13,306 on Friday and the Nasdaq Composite rose 61 points to 3,136.
The FTSE100 in London was up 0.3%, the DAX in Frankfurt was up 0.6% and the CAC-40 in Paris was up 0.26%.
The Australian 200 Index closed up 13 points, at 4,236 and the NZX50 index rose 29 points, or 0.77%, to close at 3722.
At 8.30am on Monday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 81.07 US cents, 78.22 Australian cents, 50.61 pence, 63.43 yen and 0.6328 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 72.32.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US113.38 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1735.89 per ounce.
