Australia

Australian shares are positioned to open flat, as Wall Street rose slightly on Friday.

Australian shares remain close to record highs although optimism about the speed of rate cuts in the US and Australia has diminished after strong jobs data out of the US.

Investors will receive additional data this week with monthly inflation numbers released in both Australia and the US. 

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil increased 1.17% to $US8 a barrel, Gold remained flat at $US2,044 and Iron ore fell to $US141.45 a tonne.

In local bond markets, yields on Australian 2 Year government bonds rose slightly to 3.881% and the 10 Year yield also rose to 4.174%. Overseas, the US Treasury notes were mostly positive, with the yield on 2 Year edging up to 4.40% and the 10 Year yield gaining to 4.051%

The Australian dollar was flat at 67 US cents. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which tracks the US dollar against 16 other currencies was up at 102.44.

Asia

Chinese shares ended lower on Friday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.85% to 2929.

Hong Kong shares closed lower with the Hang Seng falling .66% to 16,535.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose .27% on Friday.

Europe

European stocks fell on Friday led by the FTSE 100 falling .43%. 

North America

US stocks rose slightly on Friday with the S&P 500 up .18%, the Nasdaq rising by .09% and the Dow Jones Industrial average rising by .07%.