Global Stocks

European blue-chip stocks managed a small gain Thursday after a up-and-down session.

Stocks vacillated amid a pair of important meetings from the European Central Bank, which issued its monetary policy statement and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which offered no new plans to stem a glut of crude oil that has dogged global markets.

The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite closed above their April highs Thursday, completing bullish technical patterns that suggest new uptrends have begun.

The two major stock market indexes joined the Russell 2000 Index RUT, +0.65% of small-capitalization stocks, which reached that threshold on Tuesday, and several other broad-market indexes that did the same Wednesday.

Asian shares advanced on Friday as investors looked to U.S. employment data that could add to or detract from the case for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike this month or in July.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.4 percent, setting it up for a rise of 0.3 percent for the week. Japan's Nikkei gained 0.2 percent, paring losses for the week to 1.5 percent.

Chinese shares were mixed, with the CSI 300 index little changed, while the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.2 percent, putting both on track for weekly gains of about 3.5 percent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 0.3 percent, set for an advance of 1.7 percent for the week.