U.S. stocks made gains in Friday's early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose eight-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 gained four-tenths of a percent while the NASDAQ moved up two-tenths of a percent.

European stock markets were higher in Friday's afternoon trading. London's Financial Times 100 index gained half a percent, the CAC-40 in Paris and the DAX in Frankfurt were up around eight-tenths of a percent.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained one percent , to close at 8,606. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 3.1 percent , to end at 17,707.

The price of gold rose nearly $6 to trade at $1,657.30 an ounce.

The U.S. dollar was down against the yen and the euro.