Stocks in the United States closed mostly higher on Friday, although banks were clobbered over the foreclosures scandal.
Google soared after robust quarterly earnings and a new government stimulus seemed a done deal.
The Dow Jones Index fell 32 points to finish the week at 11,063.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 34 points, or more than 1%, to close at 2479.
Investors on the London Stock Exchange are expected to be in a cautious frame of mind this week, as they await details of a government austerity plan and hints on the direction of Bank of England monetary policy.
The FTSE 100 index fell 0.4% on Friday, the DAX in Frankfurt rose 0.6% and the CAC-40 in Paris rose 0.2%.
The Australian 200 Index fell 10 points to finish at 4689 on Friday.
The NZX50 fell seven points to 3256 on turnover of $75 million.
At 8.25am on Monday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 75.58 US cents, 76.08 Australian cents, 47.30 pence, 61.52 yen and 0.5404 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 66.84.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US82.43 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1368.15 per ounce.
