Scoreboard: Vague Yellen

In US economic data, the weekly Economic Cycle Research Institute index fell from a 3.6 per cent annual rate to 2.8 per cent.

US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said that US job markets still hadn't recovered fully from the global financial crisis and policymakers must be cautious in starting the process of lifting interest rates.

European shares fell on Friday in response to on-going tensions between Ukraine and Russia. The FTSEurofirst 300 index fell by 0.3 per cent with the German Dax down by 0.7 per cent while the UK FTSE lost 2.4 points or less than 0.1 per cent. Australia's major miners fell in London trade with shares in BHP Billiton down by 1.4 per cent while Rio Tinto lost 1.2 per cent.

US sharemarkets ended mixed on Friday. The on-going Ukraine-Russia tensions unsettled investors. And investors remain no clearer on when the Federal Reserve will start lifting interest rates. The Dow Jones index lost 38 points or 0.2 per cent with the S&P 500 index down by 0.2 per cent while the Nasdaq actually gained almost 6.5 points or 0.1 per cent. Over the week the Dow gained 2 per cent while the S&P 500 lifted by 1.7 per cent and the Nasdaq gained 1.6 per cent.

US treasury prices eased slightly on Friday (yields higher) with investors mulling comments from Janet Yellen while watching developments in Eastern Europe. US two-year yields rose by 1 point to 0.492 per cent while US 10-year yields were flat at 2.40 per cent. Over the week US two-year yields rose by 8 points while US 10-year yields rose by 1 point.

Major currencies ended weaker against the US dollar after European and US sessions on Friday. The euro fell from highs near $US1.330 to about $US1.322, before ending US trade near $US1.324. The Australian dollar eased from highs near US93.30c to lows near US92.95c before ending the US session close to US93.10c. And the Japanese yen eased from ¥103.48 per US dollar to ¥104.18, ending US trade near ¥103.92.

World oil prices fell on Friday in response to a stronger greenback and plentiful global crude oil supplies. But tensions between Ukraine and Russia stemmed declines. Brent crude fell by US34c or 0.3 per cent to $US102.29 a barrel and the US Nymex price eased by US31c a barrel or 0.3 per cent to $US93.65 a barrel. Over the week Brent fell by $US1.24 a barrel or 1.2 per cent while US Nymex lost $US3.70 or 3.8 per cent.

Base metal prices fell up to 0.5 per cent on Friday but copper bucked the trend, up 0.9 per cent and aluminium up 0.4 per cent. Over the week, base metal prices rose up to 3.7 per cent with zinc leading the way, but tin fell by 1.6 per cent. Gold prices rose on Friday with the Comex gold futures quote up by $US4.80 or 0.4 per cent to $US1,280.20 per ounce. Over the week gold fell by $US26 an ounce or 2 per cent. Iron ore fell by $US1.80 or 2 per cent on Friday to $US90.10 a tonne. And over the week iron ore fell by $US3.10.

Ahead: The Aussie sharemarket should start a little softer, with the S&P/ASX 200 down 10-15 points in response to profit-taking in US and European sharemarkets.

In Australia, no major economic data is scheduled. In the US, new home sales, the national activity index and Markit services "flash" index are released.

Craig James is chief economist at Commsec.