Wall St was dominated last week by Greece's elections and the lowering of economic growth forecasts for the United States by the US Federal Reserve.
However, investors say big gains will be hard to come by amid signs of slowing growth and the eurozone debt crisis.
The Dow Jones Index closed up 67 points, 0.5%, at 12,641 on Friday. The Nasdaq Composite was up 33 points, 1.2%, to 28 92
The FTSE 100 in London fell 1%, the DAX in Frankfurt was down 1.3% and the CAC-40 Paris was down 0.8%.
The Australian 200 Index closed down 39 points, 1%, at 4048 and the NZX 50 fell 10 points to close at 3399 on Friday.
At 8.30am on Monday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 79.09 US cents, 78.70 Australian cents, 50.75 pence, 63.53 yen and 0.6300 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 71.84.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US89. 47 per barrel and gold iwas trading at $US1571.19 per ounce.
