By Richard Hubbard
LONDON (Reuters) - A unexpectedly sharp rise in hiring by U.S. employers in February sent world shares and the dollar higher on Friday while U.S. Treasuries fell as investors bet on a solid recovery in the world's largest economy.
U.S. stock index futures pointed to Wall Street gaining on the data with the S&P 500 (.SPX) on track for a sixth straight daily gain and the Dow (.DJI) set to scale fresh peaks.
Nonfarm payrolls surged by 236,000 jobs last month, the U.S. Labor Department said, easily beating forecasts for a gain of 160,000 and driving the jobless rate down to a four-year low of 7.7 percent.
"This was a strong number and one of those rare cases where we were firing on all cylinders," said Jacob Oubina, senior U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York.
"Having said that, this will likely not mean much for Fed policy as they will need to see more than one month of strong numbers and if it is sustained."
The dollar climbed as high as 96.54 yen after the data, a fresh 3-1/2-year high, and added about 0.6 percent against the euro, sending the single currency down to $1.3030.
The encouraging economic news sent safe-haven 10-year Treasury notes down 20/32 to yield 2.063 percent while the 30-year bond dropped 1-06/32 to yield 3.264 percent.
European shares also jumped on the news, with the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index (.FTEU3) of top European shares rising 0.8 percent and helping send MSCI's world equity index <.miwd00000pus> up 0.2 percent to a high last seen in mid 2008.
(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)