NEW YORK, New York - Stocks were generally stronger globally on Friday as prospects brightened for a trade deal between China and Hong Kong.

On Wall Street the exuberance pushed the major indices to new record highs.

U.S. trade negotiator Larry Kudlow was upbeat on Friday, hinting a resolution of the first phase of a deal was in the works.

"It's definitely been a big source of volatility over a fairly long period of time for the markets and stocks in general," Jason Pride, chief investment officer of private wealth at Glenmede in Philadelphia told the Reuters Thomson news agency on Friday. "To see some sort of resolution of it would probably be a lift to investors and to equity holders because it takes away a big piece of uncertainty in many investors', and even corporate executives', minds."

The Dow Jones jumped 175.30 points or 0.63% to 27,957.26.

The Standard and Poor's 500 climbed 17.00 points or 0.55% to 3,113.63.

The Nasdaq Composite closed 44.09 points or 0.52% higher at 8,523.11.

The U.S. dollar lost ground against the major currencies, with the exception of the Japanese yen. The yen weakened a touch to 108.80 by the New York close on Friday.

The euro was stronger at 1.1053. The British pound strengthened to 1.2903.

The Swiss franc was a fraction firmer at 0.9896.

The Canadian dollar inched up to 1.3229. The Australian dollar lifted a few points to 0.6814, while the New Zealand dollar eased a touch to 0.6399.

Equity markets overseas were stronger. The German Dax rose 0.47%. In Paris, the CAC 40 added 0.65%. The FTSE 100 in London climbed 0.14%.

On Asian markets, the Nikkei 225 jumped 170.61 points or 0.74% to 23,312.16 on Friday.

The Australian All Ordinaries rose 58.10 points or 0.85% to 6,898.90.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was little changed, adding 2.97 points or 0.01% to 26,326.66.

China's Shanghai composite, going against the trend globally, retreated 18.53 points or 0.64% to 2,891.34.