Dollar, shares improve after bullish U.S. payrolls

By Patrick Graham

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. and European stock markets trimmed losses after slightly better than expected U.S. jobs figures on Friday, but indices of world shares still looked set to end their first full week of 2015 in the red.

Prices of U.S. Treasuries rose after the number, which showed employers added 252,000 jobs in December, while the dollar also improved to stand almost unchanged on the day against the euro and a basket of currencies.

Bund futures hit a day's low of 156.10 before recovering.

A run of U.S. data this week has already bolstered expectations the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates for the first time in almost a decade around the middle of the year and sent the dollar surging to a nine-year high.

But the collapse in the price of oil, allied to concerns over politics and growth in Europe, has helped cool sentiment on stock markets.