European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi's positive remarks about the European economy encouraged the Euro as well as world stock prices.

Draghi on Thursday left key interest rate at its record low of 0.75 per cent, and said that the Euro zone would recover from the recession in 2013, and signs of stabilization had already started appearing.

The ECB President's positive tone encouraged investors and world stock prices reached near a twenty-month high.

The MSCI index of world shares jumped to 350.15, the peak level since May 2011. After rising 3.11 per cent in the previous week, the index was on track for a weekly gain of 0.56 per cent this week.

In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 15.19 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 13,486.41; while the NASDAQ Composite Index jumped 2.03 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 3,123.79.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European companies also jumped to levels last witnessed in March 2011, shortly after the ECB President gave positive remarks about the region's economy.

The Nikkei index in Tokyo gained 1.4 per cent to 10,801.57. It was its ninth weekly gain, the longest such streak since the year 1998.

On the other hand, the yield on benchmark US 10-year Treasury notes slipped 3 basis points to 1.87 per cent on Friday, after soaring to a session high of 1.93 per cent. Gold prices slipped 0.78 per cent to $1,661.49 per ounce.