Many overseas stock markets saw gains during Friday trading, as North American investors waited to see how their own markets would fare at the end of one of the most volatile weeks in recent memory.

BNN's Michael Kane said the uncertainty seen in North American markets this week made it difficult to predict what would happen on Friday.

Case in point, the Dow Jones industrial index swung more than 400 points by the close of markets from Monday through Thursday. Kane said it was the first time in history that had happened in four consecutive trading sessions.

Shortly before markets opened in North America, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that retail sales rose a half per cent in July, as Americans spent more on autos, furniture and gasoline. That was the best monthly increase since the spring.

Overseas, major European markets were up Friday and several large Asian markets saw gains as well.

In Europe, Germany's DAX led the way with a 2.3 per cent increase, putting it ahead of Britain's FTSE 100 (up 1.4 per cent) and France's CAC-40 (up 2.3 per cent).

European regulators had banned the short-selling of financial stocks the night before trading resumed on Friday, which helped shore up the share prices of French banks.

Some financial observers were skeptical that the ban on short-selling -- a practice where investors bet that a stock will decrease in value -- would do much to improve the markets.

"With deteriorating investor confidence in eurozone debt likely to continue driving reduced investor confidence in European banks' ability to withstand the fallout from the eurozone debt crisis, we doubt that downward pressure on European financials will now dissipate," Lee Hardman, an analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsibushi UFJ told The Associated Press.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index saw a slight bump of 0.1 per cent during Friday trading, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 0.8 per cent and benchmarks in New Zealand and Singapore also increased. In China, the Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.5 per cent, while the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 1 per cent.

Other Asian markets lost ground Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average was down 0.2 per cent, South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.3 per cent, and markets in India and Taiwan also fell.

While the overseas markets were not going through the wild swings seen earlier in the week, there was still a sense Friday that investors were highly vulnerable to the tremors of uncertainty.

"It's a very volatile market and everyone is reacting to every bit of news," said Tom Kaan of Louis Capital Markets in Hong Kong.

"The guy who is trying to pick the bottom is still very much at risk here."

With files from The Associated Press