LONDON/HONG KONG – The Dow and the S&P 500 scaled record highs on Friday as shares in US economy-linked sectors jumped following a solid rise in jobs in July, helping allay fears of the Delta variant impacting a nascent economic recovery.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 943,000 jobs last month, a Labor Department report showed, amid demand for workers in the labor-intensive services industry. Economists were expecting 870,000 job additions.

The much-awaited jobs numbers dovetailed with data that showed a further decline in US unemployment claims last week and strong corporate earnings reports.

Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher in early trading, with financials, materials and energy leading the advance. The S&P 500 technology sector index fell 0.3 percent.

At 9:52 am ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 134.15 points, or 0.38 percent, at 35,198.40 and the S&P 500 was up 3.88 points, or 0.09 percent, at 4,432.98.

The Nasdaq Composite was down 44.90 points, or 0.30 percent, at 14,850.22, pressured by declines in growth stocks including, Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp andAmazon.com Inc, which fell about 0.5 percent each.

Elsewhere, stocks struggled to make gains on Friday and oil headed for its biggest weekly loss since March, as nervousness over the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant hit risk assets and crimped demand.

The benchmark STOXX index of European shares opened down 0.1 percent, following earlier falls in MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan.

By 1100 GMT, European shares had picked up slightly, with the STOXX 600 flat, but Germany's DAX, France's CAC 40 and MSCI's Europe index all up around 0.2 percent on the day.

The Thai baht led losses among emerging markets currencies, emblematic of how a surge in coronavirus infections and deaths in some countries around the world is hitting confidence in their currencies and economies.

Turkey's lira was down 0.8 percent in its fourth straight day of losses.

China on Friday reported 124 confirmed new coronavirus cases for Aug 5, its highest daily count in the current outbreak, fuelled by a spike in locally transmitted infections. Authorities have imposed travel restrictions in some cities.

Thailand and Malaysia both reported record daily cases on Thursday. 

"The Delta variants exposed the vulnerability of Asian economies as the overall vaccination rate is low in Asia," Bank of America analysts said.

That was weighing on shares in Asia and while the MSCI Asian benchmark is up 1.6 percent this week, it is just over 10 percent below all time highs hit in February.

In contrast, the MSCI world shares index is just shy of a record high, which it hit on Wednesday.

US Treasury yields extended their gains, having earlier been helped by the drop in jobless claims.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields rose to 1.2583 percent, approaching a week high after their US close at 1.217 percent on Thursday, and helping the dollar, which rose against the yen to a week high.

Oil prices rose on Friday but were still set for their biggest weekly loss since October after falls earlier in the week triggered by rising COVID-19 cases and a surprise build in US crude stockpiles.

US crude was US$69.99 a barrel, up 0.47 percent. Brent crude traded at US$72.22 per barrel, up 1.29 percent.

The stronger dollar and potential for higher yields hurt gold with the spot price down 0.41 percent at US$1,796.52.

Ether, the world's second largest cryptocurrency dropped 3 percent a day after a major software upgrade to its underlying ethereum blockchain, which is expected to stabilize transaction fees and reduce supply of the token.