London — Gains for Europe and Asia pushed world shares towards record highs on Friday, while the dollar crept up ahead of the monthly excitement of US payrolls data. Eurozone stocks had been at risk of their second red week in a row but a 0.5% early rise looked to have dug them out of trouble, following gains in Asia and on Wall Street overnight. Near 6% jumps in French media firm Vivendi and Swedish car and truck maker Volvo lifted spirits, as did a rise in eurozone manufacturing data that showed the fastest rise in export orders since February 2011. On-form mining companies remained hot as copper and iron ore headed for their eighth straight week of gains. There was also some relief the euro seemed to have stalled and this year’s 13% rise wasn’t hurting firms just yet. The latest factory PMI figures showed strong traction across all major eurozone economies and at 57.4 matched June’s strongest reading since April 2011. It left the euro buying $1.1894 and despite having topped $1.2...
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