* Stocks add slightly to two-week closing high
* Euro steady, approaching key technical level
* Bunds futures flat; new ECB bond buys eyed
* U.S. non-farm payrolls in focus, due 1330 GMT
By Simon Jessop
LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - European shares rose ahead of the release of fresh U.S. jobs data later on Friday, while the euro paused for breath after bouncing from a 2-1/2 month low.
Both asset classes had opened steady ahead of the much-watched payrolls data, seeking further evidence about the extent of European Central Bank bond buying, which had supported markets in the previous session.
Peripheral euro zone debt outperformed as the ECB continued purchases, reassuring investors that the bank would continue to support markets despite the lack of any sign from President Jean-Claude Trichet it would ramp up the programme.
"The ECB really are the only buyer out there and there's certainly some people looking to get out on the client side," a trader said.
A generally improved economic picture, supporting stock markets and riskier assets, has been marred by the euro zone's fiscal crisis.
By mid-morning, the cost of insuring Portuguese and other peripheral debt had fallen further, and while the ECB was back in the market buying Portugal and Ireland bonds, traders said, its purchases were in small sizes only.
Portugal's five-year credit default swaps tightened to 430 basis points from 448 basis points, data from Markit showed, while the premium paid for 10-year Portuguese debt over benchmark German bunds edged lower.
Elsewhere in the periphery, Ireland's yield spread over bunds tightened slightly to 595 basis points.
After previously rallying on talk of the ECB bond buying, in the hope it would help shore up confidence in the euro zone periphery, the single currency was steady in early trade on Friday, hovering around a key technical resistance level.
The euro traded at $1.3241 at 0958 GMT, above a 2-1/2 month low hit on Tuesday and just below its 100-day moving average and below key resistance at $1.3334-64, its August peak and a 38.2 percent retracement of the June-November rally.
"I suspect the euro has bottomed out in the near term and will test $1.33-34," said a trader at a Japanese brokerage house.
Among other currencies, the dollar traded down 0.2 percent against a basket of other currencies.
STOCKS RISE
The benchmark FTSEurofirst 300 share index extended gains by midmorning, after closing the previous session at a two-week high, and all eyes remained on the U.S. jobs data, Justin Urquhart Stewart, London-based director at Seven Investment Management, said.
"There's a positive tone to the market, despite all the negative news on sovereign debt ... If the payrolls are positive, it could easily push the market even higher," he said.
A strong overnight showing in U.S. stock markets had slowed by the close of play in Asia, with gains of just 0.1 percent in the Nikkei, mostly on buying in technology shares.
The MSCI world equity index is also higher, up 0.4 percent, while U.S. stock futures are pointing to a slightly higher open on Wall Street.
Oil was steady near 25-month highs following a recent slew of upbeat U.S. economic data that bodes well for demand from the world's top user, and ahead of the jobs report which is expected to show employment expanded for a second straight month in November.
Non-farm payrolls are forecast to have risen 140,000, with private hiring increasing by more than 100,000 for a fifth straight month in November, according to a Reuters survey.
The unemployment rate is forecast to have held steady at 9.6 percent.
Such a positive reading would add further weight to the notion the country's recovery is picking up pace, and follows data showing the number of jobless benefits claimants hit a two-year low last week.
The PMI survey of business purchasing managers showed the euro zone's service sector economy pulled ahead in November thanks to strengthening German and French business, although debt-burdened Ireland and Spain continued to lag behind. (Reporting by Simon Jessop; editing by Patrick Graham)