The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied more than 2 per cent Friday as attention turned to weekend meetings on the European debt crisis, DPA reported.
Eurozone finance ministers also paved the way for Greece to remain solvent with a fresh tranche of aid, but failed to strike a deal on the higher-profile issue of leveraging their bailout fund as they fought to contain their debt crisis.
EU leaders had been expected to agree at a summit on Sunday on stretching out the capacity of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) through leveraging, in a bid to assuage contagion fears. But meetings will now continue into next week.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average added 267.01 points, or 2.31 per cent, to 11,808.79 The broader Standard & Poor's Index was up 22.86 points, or 1.88 per cent, to 1,238.25. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 38.84 points, or 1.49 per cent, to 2,637.46.
For the week, the Dow added 1.41 per cent, the S&P increased 1.12 per cent, and the Nasdaq was boosted 1.14 per cent.
The US dollar gained against the euro to 71.96 euro cents from 72.6 euro cents on Thursday. The dollar slipped against the Japanese currency at 76.29 yen from 76.84 yen a day earlier.