Stocks on Wall Street have risen due to a strong labor market and retail sales data that lifted optimism about the economy.
The Dow Jones Index on Thursday was up 93 points to 12,719. The Nasdaq Composite was up 39 points at 2873.
In Europe: the FTSE 100 in London was up 0.9%, the DAX in Frankfurt was up 0.5% and the CAC-40 in Paris was up 0.5%.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei was down 11 points to 10,071.
The Australian 200 Index was unchanged at 4605 on Thursday. The NZX 50 was unchanged at 3461.
At 8.12am on Friday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 83.33 US cents, 77.35 Australian cents, 52.15 pence, 67.61 yen and 0.5801 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 71.87.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US117.75 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1530.66 per ounce.
