Stocks shrug off U.S. jobs data

By Daniel Bases

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global equity markets ended the week with gains on Friday, shrugging off initial shock at U.S. jobs data, but oil prices never fully recovered.

Gold climbed to another record high, piercing through the $1,100 (662 pounds) an ounce mark after the data, before slipping back as investors decided the jobless numbers were not so bad.

While U.S. President Barack Obama called the data "sobering", the increase in the unemployment rate to a higher-than-expected 10.2 percent, a 26-1/2-year peak, was later discounted after the number of jobs reported lost in August and September were revised down.

U.S. employers cut 190,000 jobs last month. Economists polled ahead of the data had expected 175,000 job cuts and an unemployment rate of 9.9 percent.

Daniel Katzive, currency strategist at Credit Suisse in New York, said the jobs number was not weak enough to call into question a global recovery story. At the same time, it was poor enough to keep the markets thinking the Fed will hold rates for some time.

For a chart showing the relationship between U.S. payrolls and economic output, please click on:here

The Japanese yen rose against the greenback and euro. The euro fell 1.1 percent to 133.56 yen, after hitting a session low of 133.22 yen. The U.S. dollar fell as low as 89.62 yen, according to Reuters data, and last traded 0.9 percent lower at 89.90 yen.

Recently the weak global economic environment has led investors to buy U.S. dollars for safety. However Friday's data fuelled the argument the Federal Reserve -- the U.S. central bank -- will maintain near-zero benchmark interest rates in order to facilitate cheap borrowing and investment.