Sawt Falasteen - Stocks shrug off mixed US jobs data to advance

Meanwhile, oil prices continued to surge higher as traders worried about the situation in Iran and Venezuela.

Data released Friday showed the US economy added 50,000 jobs last month, below market expectations, and capping off a year of weakness in the job market that had prompted the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.

However, the unemployment rate slipped to 4.4 percent and average wages continued to rise.

"The key takeaway is that the low unemployment rate will temper concerns that consumer spending and the economy will slow rapidly due to a weak labour market," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

However, "it will also likely keep the Fed's next rate cut at bay."

The report is expected to play a key role in the central bank's decision-making at its next policy meeting this month.

The Fed indicated last month that its next move could be a pause after three successive cuts, and Friday's data ended market hopes for a January cut.

After a tepid start Wall Street's main indices were higher in afternoon trading.

The US jobs data "keeps the goldilocks scenario intact for stocks", said Forex.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada, as the labour market weakness enables the Fed to cut rates without threatening a recession.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, noted "the weakening of the labour market combined with strong GDP growth is a sign that US productivity is surging.

Most stock markets have enjoyed a solid start to the new year, with indexes in Frankfurt, London, Paris and Seoul hitting record highs this week, largely on optimism for the tech sector and gains in defence sector shares.

Swiss mining giant Glencore jumped 8.5 percent to top London's FTSE 100 index after confirming it was in merger talks with Australian-British rival Rio Tinto, which fell two percent.

Europe's main markets closed higher, with Paris setting a fresh new all-time high, even as France's opposition failed to derail EU approval of the trade deal with Brazil and other nations in the Mercosur bloc.

Investors were also keeping watch on a potential US Supreme Court's ruling on the legality of many of Trump's punishing tariffs.

A ruling against the government could have a huge impact on its economic and fiscal plans, despite pledges that tariffs could be re-imposed by other means.

Briefing.com's O'Hare said to watch the reaction of the bond market to the ruling.

"They will ultimately be the judge and jury on what any IEEPA ruling means in the near term for the economy and the market," he said, referring to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act that Trump used to impose the tariffs.

Oil prices extended their gains, climbing by around 2.5 percent, as growing geopolitical risks that could disrupt supplies outweighed oversupply concerns.

"Political tensions in Venezuela and civil unrest in Iran -- potentially tightening crude availability... pushed oil prices higher," said analyst Axel Rudolph at IG trading platform.

Oil prices already rallied more than three percent Thursday, following Trump threatening to hit Iran "very hard" if the authorities killed protesters amid mounting civil unrest over an economic crisis.

- Key figures at around 1630 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 49,452.95 points

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.5 percent at 6,954.32

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 23,631.25

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.8 percent at 10,124.60 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.4 percent at 8,362.09 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.5 percent at 25,261.64 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.6 percent at 51,939.89 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.3 percent at 26,231.79 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 4,120.43 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1629 from $1.1652 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3406 from $1.3432

Dollar/yen: UP at 158.12 yen from 157.16 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.74 pence from 86.75 pence

West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.8 percent at $59.39 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 2.4 percent at $63.50 per barrel

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H.Jarrar--SF-PST