Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange: data showed US employers hired more workers than expected in August. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesEuropean stocks rose 2 per cent on Friday, recording gains for the first time in six days after key US jobs data eased bets of a more aggressive Federal Reserve, but logged their third straight week of falls on concerns over a spike in energy prices.
Shell advanced 2.2 per cent after the oil major and Exxon Mobil confirmed the sale of their California oil joint-venture Aera to German asset manager IKAV for $4 billion . Flows of Russian gas via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany remained at zero on Friday after Russia’s Gazprom halted supplies for a three-day maintenance outage on Wednesday.