US stocks rise on strong jobs report

New York - Wall St stocks Friday opened higher after the labour department reported the US economy gained a strong number of jobs in September and that unemployment fell to a six-year low.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 16 896, up 94.85 points (0.56%).

The broad-based S&P 500 added 10.85 (0.56%) at 1 957, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 23.83 (0.54%) to 4 454.

The September jobs report was a welcome rebound after August's worrisome slump, taking monthly job creation so far this year to 227 000 and pushing the jobless rate down to 5.9%.

“US Stock futures rose as positive data from the US shows over 240 000 jobs were created in September. Emerging market stocks and currencies, including the rand slid against the backdrop of the news," Mabyanine Phiri, portfolio associate at ACM Gold told Fin24 on Friday.

"From a domestic perspective, this warns of further strain on the rand for the rest of the year, as we are expecting the next move from the Fed will be an increase in rates early next year.”