US jobs growth buoys local stocks The Australian stock market has opened higher after stronger than expected US jobs figures lifted investor sentiment on Wall Street. In morning trade, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 33.7 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 5434.4, while the broader All Ordinaries index was 33.3 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 5427.7. Commsec market analyst Steven Daghlian said the local market was following Wall Street higher on Monday in the wake of figures which showed US employers added 204,000 jobs in October. ""Around 80,000 more jobs were created than expected, which was particularly surprising given the US government shutdown,"" Mr Daghlian said. He said it was likely to be a fairly busy week for the market with several major companies, including News Corp, to release financial results. The market would also be watching a speech from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday for indications of when the central bank would start to taper its asset buying program. Mr Daghlian said the gains were widespread across the market on Monday morning with the big four banks and major miners higher. Among the banks, Westpac was up 20 cents to $33.38, ANZ was up 19 cents to $32.90 while NAB was 16 cents higher at $34.94 and Commonwealth Bank 21 cents stronger at $79.31. BHP Billiton was up 23 cents at $38.18, Rio Tinto had gained 44 cents to $65.69 and Fortescue Metals had lifted 7.5 cents to $5.53. On the local corporate front on Monday, Orica is scheduled to report earnings. The US economy added 204,000 jobs in October, well ahead of expectations of 120,000 even amid a federal government shutdown. The jobless rate edged up to 7.3 per cent. On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average surged 167.80 points, or 1.08 per cent, at 15,761.78. The Standard &amp; Poor's 500 Index gained 23.46 points, or 1.34 per cent, at 1770.61. The Nasdaq Composite Index ended up 61.90 points, or 1.60 per cent, at 3919.23. With Friday's advance, the Dow and S&P 500 recorded their fifth straight week of gains. For the week, the Dow rose 0.9 per cent and the S&P 500 index rose 0.5 per cent. The Nasdaq fell 0.1 per cent for the week. Europe's main stock markets closed mixed ahead of the weekend, with London's benchmark FTSE 100 index climbing 0.17 per cent to 6708.42 points. Frankfurt's DAX 30 on Friday however slid 0.03 per cent to 9078.28 points, while the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.48 per cent to 4260.44 points. One reason for the poor showing in Europe was Standard & Poor's decision to cut France's sovereign credit rating on Friday by one notch to AA from AA+, giving a thumbs-down to President Francois Hollande's efforts to put the euro zone's second largest economy back on track. Australian dollar was trading at 93.84 US cents. The currency was at 94.65 US cents at its local close on Friday. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.5 per cent to 81.242, with the peak on the day a near two-month high of 81.482. The greenback advanced on the back of the jobs data and repositioning by investors who bet the Federal Reserve could begin to taper its $US85 billion a month bond purchases before the end of the year after all. In the commodities markets, gold dropped 1.7 per cent on Friday, notching its biggest one-day fall in more than a month. Brent oil rose by nearly $US2 per barrel as traders covered short positions going into the weekend and kept a close watch over a meeting between Western powers and Iran over its nuclear program and renewed violence in Libya. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange, untraded at the close on Friday, was last bid at $US7165 from $US7145 on Thursday. SPI futures closed up 55 points on Saturday morning after Wall Street rallied on bets for an improving US economy. On Friday, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 21.3 points. UBS analysts say the aggregate Australian market price to earnings (P/E) multiple has expanded significantly over the past 12 months - particularly the ex-resources segment of the market. JPMorgan has maintained an "underweight" rating for Qantas Airways. It says the airline's first quarter 2014 airline operating metrics on the whole did not paint a positive picture, with the month of September showing an acceleration in the rate of decline in most divisional load factors.