A rally in energy and banking shares lifted European markets and U.S. futures Friday, even as Japan's main index fell to its lowest level in more than a year as it caught up with a sharp selloff in the previous session.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 1.8% in early trade, while stock futures pointed to a 0.8% opening gain for the S&P 500. Changes in futures don't necessarily reflect market moves after the opening bell.

Boosting sentiment, Brent and WTI crude oil futures both jumped over 4% to $31.28 a barrel and $27.36 respectively before paring gains slightly.

Oil prices got a lift after the U.A.E. energy minister said OPEC was ready to cooperate on production cuts, though many analysts remain skeptical on an agreement being reached.

Global markets sold off sharply Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 254 points as investors moved out of equities and commodities and bought government bonds and other haven assets. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to its lowest level since May 2013 as investors fled to safety. Yields fall as prices rise.

The selloff followed cautious comments from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen Wednesday regarding further rate increases that added to concerns over the health of the global economy.

"Janet Yellen put a mirror in front of the market, and they didn't like the picture," said Didier Duret, chief investment officer at ABN AMRO private banking.

Ms. Yellen's comments also accelerated the Japanese yen's sharp rise against the dollar, which hurts the competitiveness of Japanese exporters.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 4.8% Friday as it reopened from a holiday, bringing losses for the week to over 11%, as the yen continued to rise against the dollar. The dollar was last down 0.1% against the yen at ¥ 112.17.

A close adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that the Bank of Japan may call an emergency meeting to undertake additional monetary easing if financial markets remain turbulent.

"A strong yen and negative interest rates is a bad marriage," said Mr. Duret, noting the pain in Japan could raise fears about the impact of negative interest rates in Europe. Still, he doesn't believe a global recession is coming.

Stocks elsewhere in Asia deepened their rout, catching up with steep losses in the U.S. and Europe in the previous session. Australia's S&P ASX 200 closed down 1.2%.

In Europe, banks stocks staged a relief rally to trade up 2.9%, while mining shares also recovered some of recent losses.

Shares in Germany's Commerzbank AG soared 14% Friday after the bank said it would pay its first dividend for five years.

Still, the banks remain down 26% this year. European banks fell sharply Thursday on concerns over slowing global growth and the impact of negative interest rates on bank earnings.

Investors will examine data releases later Friday for clues on the health of the global economy, with figures on U.S. retail sales and consumer sentiment due, and the eurozone reports its latest growth and industrial output numbers.

In currencies, the euro was down 0.3% against the dollar at $1.1285, even after data showed Germany's economy remained on a steady yet modest growth path at the end of last year.

Gold fell 0.7% to $1238.80 an ounce, after gold gained 4.5% Thursday to its highest level in a year.

Chao Deng, Biman Mukherji and Nina Adam contributed to this article

Write to Riva Gold at riva.gold@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 12, 2016 04:45 ET (09:45 GMT)