Wall St stocks notched a second day of solid gains. Lower yields on some euro-zone debt eased some concerns and investors set aside weak figures on the US labour market.
The Dow Jones Index rose 181 points, or 1.4%, to close at 12,987.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 39 points, or 1.3%, at 3056.
The FTSE 100 in London rose 1.3% in choppy trade, the DAX in Frankfurt and the CAC-40 in Paris rose 1%.
The Australian 200 Index rose 35 points to 4281 and the NZX 50 gained 21 points, to close at 3487 on Thursday.
At 8.18am on Friday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 82.71 US cents, 79.22 Australian cents, 51.82 pence, 66.91 yen and 0.6270 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 73.52.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US122.90 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1677 per ounce.
