Strong earnings from US firms helped drive many global stocks to record highs today, but continuing worries about US growth kept the dollar near record lows.
The dollar was close to an all-time trough against the euro, but stock markets rallied after a strong performance from Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average closed overnight above 13,000 for the first time.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.6 per cent. In other European markets, London's FTSE 100 index gained 0.5 per cent, while Frankfurt's DAX rose 0.8 percent and Paris' CAC 40 gained 0.4 per cent.
Japan's Nikkei average earlier rose 1.12 per cent or 193.01 points at 17,429.17, recouping most of the losses sustained in the previous session. The broad TOPIX index was up 0.95 per cent at 1,703.41.
Stock benchmarks in South Korea, China and Indonesia touched records.
The euro was flat against the dollar but within sight of its record high.
In contrast to the buoyant euro zone, mixed US economic data this week has done little to turn around expectations of a slowdown in the US economy and a cut in interest rates.