What you need2know:

• SPI futures down 42pts at 5361 on Saturday morning

• AUD at 80.87 US cents at about 9am AEDT on Saturday

• On Wall St, S&P 500 flat, Dow flat, Nasdaq -0.2 per cent

• In Europe, Stoxx 50 -0.2 per cent, FTSE -0.3 per cent, CAC -0.5 per cent, DAX -0.4 per cent

• Spot gold up $US6.41 or 0.5 per cent to $US1188.39 an ounce in New York on Friday

• Brent oil down 83 US cents or 1.5 per cent to $US56.50 per barrel in New York on Friday

What's on today

Australia PMI manufacturing; Japan PMI manufacturing, vehicle sales; US vehicle sales.

Stocks to watch

Atlas Iron, which surged 39 per cent on Friday.

Rio Tinto Group and Anglo American were among stocks dragging a gauge of Ecommodity producers 1 per cent lower on Friday, for the second-worst performance on the Stoxx 600.

Deutsche Bank has upgraded Evolution Mining, Iluka Resources and OZ Minerals to a BUY, Newcrest Mining to HOLD and have downgraded Mount Gibson Iron and Alacer Gold to a HOLD.

Currencies

CommSec notes that over the past 20 years, the Aussie dollar has, on average, tracked in a US13.7¢ range. "If normal volatility persists in
2015 then a range of US71-85¢ could be assumed."

The US dollar hit its highest against the euro in 4-1/2 years on Friday and reached parity with the Swiss franc after comments from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi underscored the divergence between European and US monetary policy.

Sterling hit a 17-month low of $1.5328 after data showed British manufacturing expanded less than expected in December.

Commodities

Ore with 62 per cent content delivered to Qingdao, China, was unchanged on Friday at $US71.26 a dry metric ton, following gains in
the previous five trading sessions, according to data from Metal Bulletin Ltd. That took last week's advance to 5.8 per cent, the most
since the period to July 5, 2013.

WTI crude may decline in the week ahead, a Bloomberg survey showed. Eighteen of 32 analysts and traders, or 56 per cent, predicted futures may decrease through January 9 while eight respondents forecast prices will climb.

Copper prices slid to a 4-1/2 year low on Friday, pressured by a stronger US dollar and indications of slowing economic growth in major
commodity consumer China. Three-month copper on the LME closed at $6255 per tonne having touched $6218, its lowest level since June 2010.

United States

US stocks closed little changed on Friday in the first trading session of 2015, finishing well off session highs as economic data
short-circuited early gains.

For the week, the Dow closed down 1.2 per cent, the S&P off 1.5 per cent and the Nasdaq off 1.7 per cent.

"Investors are looking for validation that the economy is, in fact, as strong as advertised," Peter Sorrentino, a Cincinnati-based fund
manager at Huntington Asset Advisors, which oversees $US1.8 billion, said in a phone interview. "The market may struggle to find its
footing here in the first couple of days until we get some more data points out."

Europe

European stocks declined on the first trading day of the year after completing the smallest annual advance since 1992.

Strategists forecast advances for European stocks through the end of 2015 amid bets that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will step up measures to support the region's economy. Draghi told German newspaper Handelsblatt that he can't exclude the risk of deflation in the euro area.

A final reading of a purchasing managers' index for euro- area factory output stood at 50.6 in December, London-based Markit Economics said on Friday. While that's up from a 17-month low of 50.1 in November, it's below a 50.8 estimate released on December 16.

What happened on Friday

The local sharemarket began 2015 on a positive note led by both big and junior miners as their shares rallied in response to signs the
iron ore price may be stabilising.

On Friday, the S&P/ASX 200 index gained 24.9 points, or 0.46pc, to 5435.9.