Asia Stocks Rise As US Jobs Picture Improves

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.7 percent to close at 13,096.17. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 1.9 percent to 1,390.99. The Nasdaq composite index rose 2 percent to 2,967.90.

Still, recent job gains weren't enough to bring down the unemployment rate, which rose to 8.3 percent from 8.2 percent in June.

On Friday, Asian stock markets fell after the European Central Bank's policy meeting failed to deliver on bold promises of action to overcome the region's prolonged debt crisis. Investors had hoped the ECB would resume purchases of government bonds to lower the borrowing costs of financially struggling countries such as Spain and announce other measures to calm a crisis that is dragging down global economic growth.

But Germany, which is Europe's biggest economy, is opposed to the ECB operating outside its mandate to control inflation and wants any government bond purchases to be financed by other funds set up to deal with the crisis.

Benchmark crude was down 20 cents at $91.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract vaulted $4.27 on Friday to settle at $91.40 in New York.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.2394 from $1.2377 late Friday in New York. The dollar fell to 78.40 yen from 78.59 yen.