NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks hesitatingly continued higher Friday, reflecting widespread gains, albeit modest ones, across the globe.

"We're putting the final touches on an extremely strong January on the heels of lower inflation and an economy that's hanging in there," Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group, told CNBC Friday.

"We're not out of the woods, though. We've still got the Fed next week, and they might want to throw some water on this rally," he said.

The Nasdaq Composite did best Friday, gaining 109.30 points or 0.95 percent, to close at 11.621.71.

The Dow Jones edged up 28.67 points or 0.08 percent to 33,978.08.

The Standard and Poor's 500 rose 10.13 points or 0.25 percent to 4,070.56.

The U.S. dollar remained in the doldrums Friday, undisturbed ahead of next week's Fed meeting. The euro was solid at 1.0868 around the U.S. close Friday. The British pound was well-bid at 1.2390. The Japanese yen was marginally lower at 129.88. The Swiss franc edged up to 0.9210.

The Canadian dollar strengthened to 1.3302. The Australian dollar rallied to 0.7110/ The New Zealand dollar firmed to 0.6492.

On overseas equity markets, the German Dax rose 0.11 percent. London's FTSE 100 edged up 0.05 percent.

In Paris, France, the CAC 40 was up 0.02 percent.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.54 percent. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo added 0.07 percent.

The Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.50 percent. The Australian All Ordinaries climbed 0.28 percent.

In Indonesia, the Jakarta Composite added 0.50 percent.

New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 finished 0.10 percent ahead. In Seoul, South Korea, the Kospi Composite rose 0.62 percent.

Stock markets in China remained closed for the Chinese Lunar New Year.