On Friday European stocks advanced for a fifth day before a report that may show American employers added jobs in May for a fifth consecutive month. US index futures gained, while Asian shares retreated.

In Europe energy stocks featured among the top gainers, led by a 3.2 per cent gain by BP. The oil major said it has made progress in its latest bid to capture some of the oil spewing from its ruptured deep-sea well in the Gulf of Mexico.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.8 per cent. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares is on track to record a gain of 2.7 per cent on the week, reversing some of the sharp losses suffered since mid-April.

Energy shares led the broad rally. Tech shares also gained ground, buoyed by a strong rally in the sector on Wall Street. Banking shares – Europe’s worst performers so far this year – gained ground.

Around Europe, UK’s FTSE 100 index was up 0.8 per cent, Germany’s DAX index up 0.8 per cent, and France’s CAC 40 up 0.8 per cent.

Naoto Kan’s appointment as Japan’s prime minister will ease investor anxiety over the world’s largest public debt and boost stocks, said Naoki Kamiyama, Deutsche Bank AG’s chief equity strategist in Tokyo. Kan is likely to implement a more disciplined fiscal policy, easing investors’ concerns about solvency issues, Kamiyama said.

Kan is taking the reins just weeks before the government is due to say how it intends to reduce public debt and release a strategy to sustain a 3 per cent growth rate over the next decade. Japan’s public debt is approaching 200 per cent of gross domestic product, the biggest among the 30- member Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average has risen 3.1 per cent since Hatoyama said on 2 June that he will step down. The gauge fell 0.1 per cent on Friday after rising as much as 0.5 per cent.