Global shares flat after payrolls, Fed in focus

US stocks held steady at four-year highs on Friday, closing out their best week since June as a sharply disappointing jobs report only fuelled expectations that the Federal Reserve would act to stimulate the economy next week.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 14.64 points, or 0.11 percent, at 13,306.64. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 5.80 points, or 0.40 percent, at 1,437.92. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.61 points, or 0.02 percent, at 3,136.42.

Gains in heavyweight banking and mining stocks drove European shares to fresh peaks, as the European Central Bank's (ECB) bond-buying plan and expectations of more monetary stimulus measures boosted the region's equity markets.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index closed up 0.2 percent at 1,106.72 points. The index fell back from an earlier 13-month intraday high of 1,113.22 points after weaker-than-expected US jobs data, but finished at its best closing level since ending on 1,109.55 points on Aug. 21.

In Asia, Nikkei average climbed 2.2 percent, its biggest one-day percentage gain in five months, after the European Central Bank outlined its bond buying scheme in an attempt to draw a line under the region's debt crisis. The Nikkei advanced 191.08 points to 8,871.65. The broader Topix climbed 2.3 percent to 735.17.