The Dow Jones industrial average, one of the most watched barometers of the financial world, closed above 10,000 points on Wednesday, a milestone of the stock market’s recovery from the depths of the financial crisis.

The rally carried over into Asian markets Thursday morning, with Japan’s Nikkei index rising more than 2 percent after the opening before sliding back some. Other key markets in Asia also showed more modest gains. European markets opened more cautiously, starting the day slightly ahead before falling back.

At the market close Wednesday in the United States, baseball caps declaring “Dow 10,000 2.0” circulated on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. CNBC scheduled a special report to commemorate a level that Wall Street had not reached for a year, after the Dow fell below five digits last October as Washington rushed to head off an all-out collapse of the financial system.

“The last time we saw 10,000, we were going the wrong way,” said Doreen Mogavero, president of the brokerage Mogavero, Lee & Company, who was on the trading floor Wednesday afternoon. “This is a little bit nicer feeling.”