Stocks: Friday’s review

Asian stocks gained, with the regional benchmark index poised for to rise for a third week. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average erased losses from before the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. as the country’s economy returned to growth, jobless claims in the U.S. dropped and China’s exports beat estimates.

Nikkei 225 12,283.62 +315.54 +2.64%

Hang Seng 23,091.95 +320.51 +1.41%

S&P/ASX 200 5,123.44 +14.24 +0.28%

Shanghai Composite 2,318.61 -5.68 -0.24%

Honda Motor Co., which gets 44 percent of its car sales from North America, climbed 2.5 percent in Tokyo.

Sekisui House Ltd. jumped 16 percent after the Japanese homebuilder’s operating profit forecast beat estimates.

Rio Tinto Group gained 1.8 percent in Sydney after the world’s second-biggest mining company reopened its coal mine in Mozambique and metal prices rose.

European stocks climbed to the highest level in more than 4 1/2 years as U.S. payrolls rose more than forecast, sending the jobless rate in the world’s biggest economy to a four-year low.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) added 0.8 percent to 295.38, the highest level since June 2008.

U.S. payrolls increased more than forecast in February, a Labor Department report showed. An additional 236,000 workers were hired last month, exceeding the 165,000 median forecast of economists. The jobless rate unexpectedly fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008.

National benchmark indexes climbed in all 18 western European markets.

FTSE 100 6,483.58 +44.42 +0.69% CAC 40 3,840.15 +46.37 +1.22% DAX 7,986.47 +46.70 +0.59%

Fugro (FUR) jumped 15 percent to 43.03 euros, the most since March 2009, after reporting full-year net income of 292 million euros ($382 million), beating the average analyst estimate of 282 million euros.

Lagardere added 5 percent to 28.86 euros after France’s largest publisher posted 2012 net income of 89 million euros, compared with a loss of 707 million euros a year earlier.

Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) advanced 3.9 percent to 25.98 Swiss francs after UBS AG raised its recommendation on Switzerland’s second-biggest bank shares to buy from neutral, citing its “solid” capital ratios and dividend outlook.

DNB ASA climbed 4.5 percent to 92.50 kroner, its highest price since at least 1992, after Norway’s largest bank said it will raise lending rates by as much as 0.3 percent because of stricter government regulation.