International markets were stronger on Friday night, with modest gains in Europe and the US

The UK's FTSE added nine points (+0.2%) to settle at 5855, whilst the French CAC gained four points (+0.1%) and the German DAX advanced 14 (+0.2%).

Stateside, the Dow Jones put on 35 points (+0.3%) to settle at 13080, whilst the S&P added four points (+0.3%) as did the Nasdaq (+0.2%).

Friday's gains weren't enough to prevent the Dow and S&P from notching their biggest weekly declines this year as investors shifted their focus to slowing global growth.

The Aussie dollar firmed a touch in line with equity strength, trading back towards the 1.05 handle. The morning Aussie is currently buying US$1.048.

Elsewhere, the yen rose against all of its 16 major counterparts as increased concern of slowing economic growth spurred investor appetite for safe assets.

Oil rallied amid reports Iranian oil exports will drop by 300,000 barrels a day this month because of tighter sanctions. The black gold added 1.4% to settle at US$106.75 a barrel.

Elsewhere, copper (+1.1%) and gold (+1.2%) also enjoyed solid gains.

In company news, Bank of Queensland has entered into a trading halt ahead of a planned $450 million capital raising.

The group has also warned that it expects to a post a net loss of $91 million for the first half.

There is no major local economic data due out for today's session.

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Morning Commentary Analysis: Lacking Direction is a post from: Australian Stock Report Market Pulse Blog