World stocks up

LONDON, Global stocks edged higher and the dollar dipped on Friday, Reuters reported.

The MSCI World Index, a broad gauge of equity markets globally, was up 0.3% in early European trading, adding to Thursday's 0.4% gains after a loss of more than 4% since the start of the week.

The STOXX Europe 600 Index was up 0.6% in early deals while the FTSE 100, Europe's biggest index, was up 0.7%.

The gains followed overnight strength in Asia, where Tokyo's Nikkei jumped 2.3%, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.8% and Chinese blue chips rose 2.2%.

U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street, with S&P 500 futures up 0.6% and its Nasdaq peer up 0.8%.

After holding steady in Asia overnight, the U.S. currency edged lower against a basket of its major peers, with the dollar index down 0.2% at 90.57, taking a breather after recent strong gains.

Gold was last up 0.3% at $1,832 an ounce, helped by the pullback in the dollar.

Brent crude was unchanged at $67.05 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 0.1% at $63.88 a barrel.

Source: Saudi Press Agency