Stocks in the United States rose on Friday as the market kept momentum from strong gains this week.
In a shortened session after the Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average rallied 102.43 points (1.17%) to close at 8,820.04 - the fifth consecutive day of gains.
The Nasdaq composite rose 3.47 points (0.23%) to 1,535.57 and Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 8.56 points (0.96%) to 896.24.
Stocks have risen by more than 10% this week.
Much of the market's attention was focused on the holiday shopping season for the retail sector.
Shares of Macy's rose 5.55% to $US7.42, Best Buy dropped 1.76% to $US20.71 and Amazon.com declined 2.87% to $US42.70.
As expected, trading volume was light: only about 786.97 million shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange - well below last year's estimated daily average of 1.90 billion.
Other markets
In London, the FTSE 100 index finished up 1.46% at 4,288.01 points. The index is up 13.41% for the week.
In Paris the CAC 40 added 0.38% to finish at 3,262.68.
However, in Frankfurt, the Dax rose only 0.09% to 4,669.44 points. The Swiss Market was up 3.12%.
Earlier in Asia, Tokyo closed up 1.66%, Hong Kong was up 2.5% and Seoul gained 1.2%.
However, Shanghai closed down 2.44% after a rally the previous session due to the latest cuts in Chinese interest rates.
Australia and NZ
In Australia, the share market finished the week on a positive note as bargain hunters snapping up shares in BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, two days after a takeover dissolved.
The S&P/ASX200 index was up 154.5 points, or 4.31%, to 3742.5, while the All Ordinaries rose 144.6 points, or 4.1%, to 3672.8.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index contract was up 168 points to 3,736 on a volume of 25,936 contracts.
The New Zealand share market was also up again, with the NZX 50 index ahead 42 points to 2710 on turnover of $73 million.
Telecom was up 11 cents to $2.49, Contact Energy was down 5c to $6.75 and Fletcher Building was down 12c to $5.58.
The Warehouse was up 11c to $3.63 after telling shareholders at its annual meeting that trading conditions were tough, but it was in a good position to continue to expand.
Air New Zealand was up 3c to 89c and Nuplex was up 30c to $3.75.
The dollar was buying 55.27 US cents, 84.09 Australian cents, 35.88 pence, 52.63 yen and 0.4283 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was 55.76.
