European markets climb before major US data

LONDON — Europe's main stock markets rose Friday, as investors set aside Egypt concerns to focus on upcoming US jobs data, dealers said.London's FTSE 100 index of top shares added 0.33 percent to 6,004.08 points near the half-way mark.Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.27 percent to 7,212.78 points, the Paris CAC 40 increased by 0.33 percent to 4,049.67 points and the Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone companies won 0.34 percent to 3,005.54.Wall Street gained ground on Thursday after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the economic recovery was gaining pace.Traders were looking ahead to January jobs data from the United States due Friday for cues on the health of the world's largest economy."The main event today is the release of US non-farm payrolls and unemployment data for January," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson."With Bernanke reiterating last night that despite the recent improvement in economic data, the US economy still needs help from the central bank; markets will be looking for continued improvement in the jobs picture."Bernanke said Thursday the economic recovery was gaining pace, but cautioned that victory could not be declared until the jobs market improved."Until we see a sustained period of stronger job creation, we cannot consider the recovery to be truly established," he said in remarks at the National Press Club in Washington.He cited improvements in stubbornly low consumer spending and bank lending but also warned that unemployment would take several years to return to normal levels."The economic recovery... appears to have strengthened in recent months, although, to date, growth has not been fast enough to bring about a significant improvement in the labor market," he said.Asian markets mostly rose on Friday with Japanese and Australian stocks lifted by positive signals from both economies, even as uncertainty about Egypt kept oil prices around the $100 mark.With most other Asian markets closed for Lunar New Year, Tokyo rallied 1.08 percent, while Sydney gained 0.87 percent.Ja

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