Stocks on Wall Street rose on Thursday. So did European markets.
The Dow Jones Index was up 115 points, to 12,266 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 20 points, to 2610.
European markets closed up on Thursday despite the concerns over Italy's financial future.
The FTSE-100 in London ended 1.08% up, while the CAC-40 in Paris rose 1.84% and the DAX in Frankfurt edged up 1.34%.
In Australia, the ASX 200 index lost 18 points to close at 4,071. The NZX 50 closed at 3246.
The New Zealand dollar on Friday morning was trading at 77.09 US cents, 76.11 Australian cents, 50.08 pence, 59.87 yen and 0.5900 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 69.07.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US108 per barrel. However, gold prices fell on Thursday to almost their lowest in six months - $US1534.70 per ounce.
