On Wall Street on Friday, markets were mixed as investors proved unable to sustain an early boost from a US employment report that showed more signs that the weak economy may be improving.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average index closed 12.89 points, or 0.15 per cent, higher at 8,763.13.
The broader S&P500 index lost 2.37 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 940.09, and the tech-dominated Nasdaq slipped 0.6 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 1,849.42.
A Labour Department report showed the US unemployment rate rose to 9.4 per cent in May - the highest in 25 years - but the number of job losses eased to a better-than-expected 345,000.
Analysts said the report showed that the labour market was still weak, but suggestive of "green shoots" of economic recovery.
CommSec chief economist Craig James said the share market should start trading positively on Tuesday, with the employment figures from the US showing that jobs losses were not accelerating.
"It seems that the worst of the job losses is over and, historically, that's always meant improvement in terms of the share market because investors are forward-looking," Mr James said.
"In terms of our market, Tuesday should be a pretty steady kick-off to the week.
"Much depends upon what happens in the US on Monday night, but at this stage of looking at it, we would say that the market would be up modestly, perhaps in the order of 10 to 15 points."
Mr James said local investors would also be looking towards monthly economic data from China next week.
"If we get some continued good signs of recovery from China, that's going to encourage investors no end," he said.
On Friday, the Australian market closed higher as global miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto announced a massive iron ore joint-venture in Western Australia, and Rio launched a $US15.2 billion ($18.96 billion) rights issue as it scrapped its proposed $US19.5 billion ($24.32 billion) investment deal with Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco).
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index rose 36.6 points, or 0.93 per cent, to 3971.2, while the broader All Ordinaries index lifted 36.5 points, or 0.93 per cent, to 3969.0 points.
On the economic front this week, Tuesday will see the release of the monthly NAB business survey and the ANZ job advertisements survey; the Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment survey and Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) housing figures will be released on Wednesday; and the ABS May employment report will be released on Thursday.
On the company front, miner OZ Minerals holds its annual general meeting on Thursday, and beef producer Australian Agricultural Company Ltd holds its annual general meeting on Friday.
