According to current pricing in the SPI futures contract, the S&P/ASX200 index will open the trading day down 0.57 per cent at 5883, well shy of the ever-elusive 6000 mark.

After a strong start towards the psychologically-important watershed last week, shares succumbed to fresh investor unease over the US Federal Reserve's next move, heightened tensions in the Middle East, domestic weakness and profit-taking to end the week down 0.93 per cent at around 5920.

Fed chair Janet Yellen added to the more dovish tone of recent weeks after the local market closed on Friday, suggesting that the US tightening cycle would be measured and not aggressive.

That, along with a technology sector rally, helped produce a small bounce in US equities on Friday, with a 0.2 per cent advance in both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average indices capping the worst week since January. The US dollar, meanwhile, posted its biggest weekly decline since 2011.

European stocks also turned positive in the final session, with the broad EuroStoxx 600 eking out a 0.25 per cent gain on Friday to trim a five-day loss of more than 2 per cent.

In commodity markets, West Texas Intermediate crude fell 6 per cent to $US48.35 a barrel in electronic trading, halting its longest run of daily gains in more than a month. Brent oil slipped 5.3 per cent, cutting its weekly gain to about 1.4 per cent.

The spot gold price, which had benefited from a flight to safe haven assets amid a surge in volatility, also eased from a week high of $US1218 to finish at $US1198.5.

Iron ore with 62 per cent iron content at Qingdao, China, lost 4 per cent, to $US53.14 a tonne on Friday, a new six-year low. The drop capped a fifth weekly loss and took declines this year to 25 per cent.

In a week shortened by Good Friday, the focus in Australia in the next few days will be on private sector credit, building approvals and international trade data for February.

All three data sets help point to the health and pace of Australia's economic rebalancing, although there remains no doubt that the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut the cash rate for a second time this year either next month or in May.

According to CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian, record dwelling approvals at the moment augur  well for an eventual pick-up in Australia's growth rate.

"Unlike mining, increased home building lifts a lot of boats across the entire economy," he said.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch says second-tier releases covering dwelling prices, the inflation gauge, new home sales and weekly consumer confidence are unlikely to prove market-moving.

Traders and investors instead will focus on the impact of lower interest rates and the Australian dollar on economic activity, said bank economist Alex Joiner.

"The trade deficit is likely to remain entrenched over the course of the year," he said.

"This is as ongoing increases in resource export volumes and the recovery in non-resources exports from the lower Australian dollar are broadly offset by more expensive imports.

"In real terms, increases in the volume of resources exports are expected, in LNG in particular and to some extent iron ore and coal," he said.

In the US, most market pundits will be looking out for Friday's non-farm payrolls, which could prove pivotal to when the Fed lifts the target rate for the first time in nine years.