Wall Street was higher on Thursday after a labor market report indicated the US economy is slowly recovering.
The Dow Jones Index was up 34 points to 12,973, which is close to levels seen before the 2008 crisis.
The Nasdaq Composite was up 13 points, at 2946.
Earlier, FTSE 100 index in London closed 9.36% higher. But the DAX in Frankfurt was down 0.5% and the CAC-40 in Paris was flat.
The Australian 200 Index closed down 6 points, at 42 86 and the NZX 50 closed down 5 points, at 3323.
The New Zealand dollar was trading at 83.32 US cents, 77.80 Australian cents, 53.02 pence, 66.75 yen and 0.6247 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 73.42.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US125.07 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1784.50 per ounce.
