Europe Shares Up Ahead of U.S. Jobs Data
Updated from 4:21 a.m. EST
NEW YORK (
) -- European shares were rising and Asian stocks ended higher Friday ahead of the monthly employment report from the U.S.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 stock average rose 2.2% to 10,368.96 as a weaker yen boosted the prospects for exporters. Stocks in Japan also rose on reports the country's central bank might ease monetary policy.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong finished with a gain of 1% on Friday and stocks in China rose 0.3%.
Stocks in London were higher by 0.4% and Frankfurt and Paris shares were gaining 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively.
Premarket futures suggested stocks would open higher Friday on Wall Street, an hour after the jobs report is released at 8:30 a.m. EST.
According to Briefing.com, many analysts believe about 63,000 jobs were shed from nonfarm payrolls in February. The unemployment rate probably edged higher to 9.8%.
The payroll numbers, some analysts think, might be skewed by major snowstorms that hit much of the country during February and could perhaps inflate the job losses.
Stocks in the U.S. finished higher Thursday. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
closed 47 points higher, or 0.5%, to 10,444. The
S&P 500
added 4 points, or 0.4%, to 1123, and the
Nasdaq
gained 12 points, or 0.5%, to 2292.
-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York.
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