U.S. markets shrugged off August's higher unemployment rate Friday, heading up after the Labor Department's early announcement.

The department said the jobless rate added 0.3 percentage points to reach 9.7 percent in August on the loss off 216,000 jobs.

Construction, manufacturing and finance sectors lost jobs. The healthcare sector added 28,000 positions in the month.

In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 20.70 points, 0.22 percent, to 9,365.31. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.25 percent, 2.47 points, to 1,005.71. The Nasdaq composite index added 8.98 points, 0.45 percent, to 1,992.18.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury fell 5/32 to yield 3.357 percent.

The euro fell to $1.4209 from Thursday's $1.4253. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 92.88 yen from Thursday's 92.73 yen.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index shed 27.53 points, 0.27 percent, to 10,187.11.