Global Stocks Advance Cautiously

Updated from 3:59 a.m. EDT BEIJING -- World stock markets climbed as investors took heart from a slight improvement in U.S. economic indicators ahead of a crucial employment report due later Friday.

Gains were modest reflecting an element of caution before the key reading on the world's No. 1 economy. August's jobless rate is forecast to rise to 9.6% from 9.5% in July with the private sector adding only a net total of 41,000 jobs, the fewest since January.

Global markets have tumbled the past month as doubts surfaced about the strength of the global recovery. But investors have recently been encouraged by pledges from the U.S. Federal Reserve and China's central bank to provide credit if needed to support economic expansion, said strategist Peng Yunliang at Shanghai Securities.

"The two largest economies are in policy expansions, so all East Asian benchmarks will be higher in the next few weeks," Peng said. Still, he said, enthusiasm was tempered because "the economy in the United States is not as strong as expected."

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 gained 0.1% to 5,371.04. France's CAC-40 was up 0.5% at 3,649.34 and Germany's DAX rose 0.4% to 6,109.09.

Stock futures pointed to slight gains on Wall Street Friday.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index rose 51.29 points, or 0.6%, to 9,114.13 and South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.2% to 1,780.02. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 0.5% to 20,971.50.

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed flat at 2,655.39, though tech stocks surged on a government announcement of plans to support development of clean energy and other fields.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.2% to 4,541.20. Markets in India, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan also advanced.

In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 50.63 points, or 0.5%, to 10,320.10.

Sentiment on Wall Street turned upbeat after the National Association of Realtors said Thursday that the number of buyers who signed contracts to purchase homes rose 5.2% in July after hitting a record low in June.

A fall in new claims for U.S. unemployment aid last week also helped lift sentiment. The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of American people requesting jobless benefits fell by 6,000 the previous week to a seasonally adjusted 472,000.

The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure, also fell by 2,500 to 485,500, the first drop after four straight increases. But even with the declines, U.S. jobless claims are still at much higher levels than they would be in a healthy economy.

When economic output is growing rapidly and employers are hiring, such claims generally drop below 400,000.

In currencies, the dollar rose to 84.41 yen from 84.26 yen in New York late Thursday. The euro climbed to $1.2839 from $1.2820.

Benchmark oil for October delivery was down 36 cents at $74.66 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.11 to settle at $75.02 a barrel on Thursday.

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