Global markets will start the week on a guarded note this week after catching fright late last week with the surprise sell off on Wednesday and Thursday.
That rattled nerves around the world and has helped bring a note of caution to some bourses.
So trading today will be circumspect, except in India after the huge change in government which has already boosted shares in that country.
In Australia the fall in iron ore prices on Friday night will make for a very wary start later today.
US shares were mixed with the Dow down, Nasdaq up and the S&P 500 in the middle.
Eurozone and Japanese shares fell 0.7% on the week, but Chinese shares gained 0.8%.
In Australia, while the Budget provided some relief for the Australian share market, overall its impact was negligible with Australian shares up 0.3%.
But that was as much down to the very strong week for the Commonwealth Bank and BHP Billiton.
The CBA hit new highs above $81, BHP jumped 2% over the week, despite weak iron ore prices.
BHP shares will come under pressure today after the fall on Friday night.
Without the solid rises in the CBA and BHP, the overall market would have been flat to a touch weaker.
The Aussie dollar ended around 93.60 US cents, which is just about steady.
And the local market will open slightly higher today after a 7 point gain on the futures market overnight Friday.
But it will be a less than convincing start after the fall in iron ore prices.
In New York, the Dow ended the week down and the S&P 500 was a smidge under flat, after both hit record highs earlier in the week.
The Dow rose 44.5 points, or 0.27%, to end the week at 16,491.31.
The S&P 500 added 7.01 points, or 0.37%, to 1,877.86 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 21.296 points, or 0.52%, to 4,090.588.
For the week, the Dow fell 0.56%, the S&P 500 fell 0.03% and the Nasdaq rose 0.46%.
Ten year US bonds fell slightly after strong data on housing starts for April. The 10 year bond ended on 2.52%.
Oil futures rose Friday in New York to end with a 2% gain for the week.
Brent crude oil rose above $US109 a barrel after a recovery in Libyan oil supply proved short-lived and tension simmered over Ukraine.
Nymex crude in New York climbed 52 cents to settle at $102.02.
Gold fell in New York on Friday, but still ended up for the week.
Comex gold for June delivery fell 20 cents to settle at $US1,293.40 an ounce.
For the week, it gained roughly 0.5%.
In Australia, the ASX 200 Index and the All Ordinaries Index each edged up 0.3% over the week to close at 5,479 points and 5,458.9 points respectively.
The week’s rise would have been closer to 1% but for the fall of 0.6% on Friday as our market fell in reaction to the nervous day of trading in New York on Thursday.
New Zealand’s benchmark NZ50 Index rose 0.7% over the week, despite falling on Thursday and Friday following the release of the country’s annual budget.
In India, the NIFTY and SENSEX market indices each advanced more than 5% over the week, having jumped sharply on Friday with the Bharatiya Janata Party led by Narendra Mode’s overwhelming win in the lengthy national elections.
Besides BHP and the CBA, shares in Rio Tinto rose 1.6%, and the ANZ was up 0.7%. Iron ore junior Arrium dropped 11.8% to a nine month low of 97.5¢.
The NAB and Westpac both fell sharply after going ex-dividend during the week.
Telstra Corporation gained 1.3% to $5.29 as analysts mull how the company will spend billions of dollars in cash raised from recent asset sales.
Goodman Fielder on Friday night accepted the slightly higher offer from its Asian suitors, Wilmar and First Pacific.
Wilmar and First Pacific raised their takeover offer for Goodman Fielder from 65 to 70 cents a share.
