US stocks rallied on Friday on signs that the holiday shopping season was off to a good start, with Walmart calling it the “best ever” Black Friday.

Stocks built on strong opening gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 172.41 points (1.34 per cent) at 13,009.30 in closing trade.

The broad-market S&P 500 index advanced 18.03 (1.30 per cent) to 1,409.06, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 40.30 (1.38 per cent) to 2,966.85.

There was no major economic data on the holiday-shortened session, which closed three hours earlier than usual at 1pm.

US markets had been shut on Thursday in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.