Stocks on Wall Street have jumped on signs that Ireland is inching towards accepting a financial aid package. Shares in General Motors rose 7% after its share float.
The Dow Jones Index on Thursday was up 171 points to 11,180. The Nasdaq Composite was up 43 points to 2519.
In Europe: the FTSE in London was up 1.3%, the DAX in Frankfurt was up 1.9% and the CAC-40 in Paris was up 1.8%.
Earlier, the Nikkei Index in Tokyo was up 202 points at 10,014. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong finished on 23,637, down 422 points.
The Australian 200 Index was up 16 points to 4640.
The NZX 50 fell 9 points to close at 32 80 on turnover of $62 million.
At 8.30am on Friday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 77.81 US cents, 78.64 Australian cents, 48.46 pence, 64.88 yen and 0.5704 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 69.61.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US84.15 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1353.46 per ounce.
