Stocks on Wall St have risen after figures showing new unemployment claims in the United States hit a 3½ year low last week, bolstering the view the economy was gaining momentum.
The Dow Jones Index on Thursday was up 71 points, or 0.6%, at 12,179.
The Nasdaq Composite was up 23 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2601.
The FTSE in London was up 1%, the DAX in Frankfurt was up 0.9% and the CAC-40 in Paris was up 1.1%.
The Nikkei Index in Tokyo was down 65 points to 8395.
The Australian 200 Index down 49 points to 4090 and the NZX50 index fell 16 points to close at 3207.
At 8.20am on Friday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 76.80 US cents, 76.23 Australian cents, 48.93 pence, 59.86 yen and 0.5877 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 68.69.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US109.64 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1606.40 per ounce.
