LONDON: Brent oil prices and world stocks rebounded on Friday after US data showed jobs growth accelerated in April, tempering concerns that the recovery in the world's biggest economy was stalling.
Spot gold fell as the dollar added to gains against a basket of major currencies after the surprisingly upbeat data soothed the nerves of investors who had earlier dumped riskier assets following patchy US economic data.
A total of 244,000 jobs were added, US non-farm payrolls data showed, above the 186,000 expected in a Reuters poll. However, the unemployment rate rose to 9 percent from 8.8 percent where analysts had expected it to remain steady.
"The numbers were better than expected and the market reacted positively to that," ETX Capital sales trader Anita Paluch said. "It seemed as if the market was looking for support in terms of good numbers after yesterday's disappointing jobless claims data and have taken these numbers quite positively."
European shares extended gains and were last 0.9 percent higher while the MSCI world equity index was up 0.1 percent.
Before the data, the world stock index was on track for its biggest weekly fall since mid-August as this week's rout in commodity prices and patchy US and European economic data had made investors nervous about taking big bets before the US jobs report.
TRADE CHOPPY
Brent crude futures headed higher and US prices zigzagged in choppy trade as the report supported the dollar against the euro and the yen, capping oil market gains.
ICE Brent June crude rose 20 cents to $111 a barrel, having traded from $105.15 to $112.65. June crude fell 4 cents to $99.76 a barrel, trading from $94.63 to $100.95.
Gold lost some of its safe-haven allure, dipping below $1,478 an ounce as the dollar strengthened.
"This is the first positive data point in several days. To the extent it gives further lift to the dollar, commodities will continue to come under pressure," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.
Commodity markets were poised for a further near-term drop as speculators and those who joined the rally in its late stages unwind long positions, Tetsu Emori, a commodities fund manager at Astmax Co in Tokyo, said earlier.
Silver plummeted more than $12 to $109 at one point on Thursday after another margin hike by the CME Group on its COMEX silver futures increased the cost of the trading the metal, dragging gold down 3 percent and triggering a brutal sell-off in other commodities.
It was the best performing asset class in 2011 until last week, posting gains of more than 10 percent.
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