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Wall street rises after a drop in US unemployment rate

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A roundup of trading on major world markets:

NEW YORK – A strong January jobs report on Friday sent US stocks soaring, pushing the Dow to pre-crisis levels, as investors celebrated a surge in job growth that pointed to new vitality in the fragile recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 156.82 points (1.23 per cent) to finish at 12,860.23, its highest closing level since May 2008.

The Nasdaq Composite added 45.98 (1.61 per cent) to 2,905.66, its best close since December 2000 and the dot.com collapse. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 19.36 (1.46 per cent) to 1,344.90.

The results of the US non-farm payrolls report were much better than economists had expected Friday. The report showed that the US economy added 243,000 jobs in January, driving the unemployment rate down two percentage points to 8.3%.

LONDON – Much better-than-expected US jobs data pushed European stock markets sharply higher on Friday, with the figures taken as another sign the world’s biggest economy has turned the corner.

The US economy generated 243,000 new jobs in January, way above the 155,000 forecast, with the unemployment rate falling to 8.3 per cent, a near three-year low, from 8.5 per cent.

Talks continue to drag on between Athens and its creditors over an unprecedented sovereign debt write-down but an accord remains elusive as a March 20 deadline for Greece to repay maturing debt looms closer.

In London, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares closed up 1.81 per cent at 5,901.07 points. In Paris, the CAC-40 index jumped 1.52 per cent to 3,427.92 points and in Frankfurt the DAX 30 advanced 1.67 per cent to 6,766.67 per cent.

HONG KONG – Asian markets closed mixed ahead of the release of US jobs data.

Investors also awaited the result of long-running talks between Greece and its creditors on cutting its huge debts, while Wall Street gave a mixed lead.

On Friday, Tokyo slipped 0.51 per cent, or 44.89 points, to 8,831.93, Sydney fell 0.39 per cent, or 16.6 points, to 4,251.2 and Seoul shed 0.60 per cent, or 11.98 points, to 1,972.32.

Hong Kong was flat, edging 17.53 points higher to 20,756.98 while Shanghai reversed earlier losses to end up 0.77 per cent, adding 17.85 points to 2,330.41.

WELLINGTON – Wellington ended flat, dipping 2.41 points to 3,312.23.