Oil rose above $58 a barrel on Friday, near a six-month high, lifted by hopes of an economic recovery that could boost falling world oil demand.

U.S. crude rose $1.49 to $58.20 a barrel by 1144 GMT (7:44 a.m. EDT), after settling at $56.71 on Thursday, the highest settlement since November 14. Brent crude was up $1.49 at $57.96.

European shares were also up after results of stress tests on U.S. banks showed no unexpected weaknesses.

People got optimistic (after the test results) because it wasn't as bad as they thought it would be, said Tony Nunan, risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo.

Oil has gained more than 70 percent from a low of $33.55 in February, rallying with equity markets on hopes of economic recovery and also in response to oil supply cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Macro-economic data on major economies has begun to look less gloomy.

U.S. retailers on Thursday posted better-than-expected monthly sales results for a second straight month in April.

German exports posted their first rise in 6 months in March, according to the country's Federal Statistics Office on Friday.

U.S. employment data might offer further hope the slump is bottoming out. The data is due out at 1230 GMT (8:30 a.m. EDT).

Economists polled by Reuters are expecting that 590,000 jobs were lost in the United States in April compared with a loss of 663,000 in the previous month.

The risk for investors is that some markets have got ahead of themselves and could be vulnerable should the flow of positive economic data start to deteriorate, Barclays Capital said in a research note.

The bank noted that data on oil demand remains mixed and the market's inventory overhang is still huge.

If the recent bout of positive sentiment subsides, prices might well go through a phase of consolidation in the mid-50s, it said.

(Reporting by Jane Merriman, Maryelle Demongeot and Alex Lawler; Editing by Keiron Henderson)