Trading on Wall Street finished close to four year highs on Thursday.
Comments from Chancellor Angel Merkel of Germany about protecting the Euro, boosted investors confidence.
Cisco Systems jumped after it raised its dividend. However, Facebook shares, fell 6% as early investors in the social network company were allowed to sell their shares for the first time since its floatation three months ago.
The Dow Jones Index gained 85 points, or 0.65%, to close at 13,250 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 31 points, or 1.1%, to 3062.
European markets were little changed. The FTSE 100 in London was up 0.03%, the DAX in Frankfurt was up 0.71% and the CAC-40 in Paris was up 0.91%.
The Australian 200 Index closed 48 points higher, or 1.1%, to close at 4330 and the NZX 50 closed down 15 points, or 0.41%, at 36 16.
At 8.30am on Friday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 81.05 US cents, 77.01 Australian cents, 51.52 pence, 64.30 yen and 0.6560 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 72.98.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US117.28 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1615.06 per ounce.
