Global stocks rose on Friday, recording their best week in nearly a year, while oil prices climbed on hopes that US companies will report strong earnings next week. But investors were still cautious in the run-up to the earnings season, buying US dollars and gold, which rallied more than 1 percent. Wall Street closed out its best week in a year on Friday, snapping back from a long stretch of selling, as investors looked ahead to the start of the earnings season. Just 6.197 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, making it the lowest-volume day of the year. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 59.04 points, or 0.58 percent, at 10,198.03. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 7.70 points, or 0.72 percent, at 1,077.95. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 21.05 points, or 0.97 percent, at 2,196.45. Wall Street ended the session near the day's highs, but volume was the lowest of the year. The MSCI world equity index rose 0.61 percent during the session, boosting its weekly gain to 5.1 percent – the highest since the 6.6 percent increase recorded in the week ending July 18, 2009. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares also finished Friday's session with a 0.61 percent to end at 1,021.78. For the week, the index rose 5.4 percent, its biggest weekly advance since July 2009. The euro fell against the dollar as investors pocketed some proceeds from the rally that had taken the single currency to its highest level in more than two months. The single European currency was down 0.41 percent at $1.2641 from a previous session close of $1.2693.
