Sydney - A big bounce on Wall Street saw Australian stocks make gains Wednesday, halting a five-day losing streak that had taken the market to a four-year low.

The ASX 200 quickly rose 154 points, or 4 per cent, to 3,948, but the rally ran out of steam, with the index closing up 51 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 3,845.

A local rally had been expected after the US blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its second-largest point gain in history, following strong stock gains in Europe and Asia.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong stocks continued their rebound Wednesday after a volatile two days which saw the Hang Seng's Index record its biggest loss and biggest gain in more than 10 years.

The blue-chip index ended the morning's trading 171 points, or 1.4 per cent higher, rising to 12,767 points.

The increase continued the rebound which began Tuesday when bargain hunters pushed the index up by 14.35 per cent, its biggest rally in more than 10 years.

Manila - Philippine share prices rose 4.47 per cent on Wednesday as investors snapped up bargain stocks following overnight gains in Wall Street.

The 30-share composite index of the Philippine Stock Exchange added 76.23 points to close at 1,780.64 from Tuesday's finish of 1,704.41.

A total of 1.158 billion shares worth 2.319 billion pesos (47.32 million dollars) were traded.

Gainers led losers 87 to 27, while 41 issues were unchanged.

Wellington - The New Zealand stock market rose 2.2 per cent on Wednesday after a roller-coaster day in which strong gains in morning trading were checked later.

The benchmark NZX-50 index rose nearly 4 per cent in the first 15 minutes of trading, apparently fired by news of dramatic gains on Wall Street which produced the second biggest rise on record.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong stocks continued their rebound Wednesday after a volatile two days which saw the Hang Seng's Index record its biggest loss and gain in more than 10 years.

The blue-chip index gained 248 points or almost 2 per cent in the first 15 minutes of trading Wednesday rising to 12,844 points.

The rebound began Tuesday when bargain hunters pushed the index up by 14.35 per cent, its biggest rally in more than 10 years.

Taipei - Taiwan stocks opened higher Wednesday after Tuesday's big Wall Street rally.

After the Taipei stock market opened at 9 am, the benchmark TAIEX quickly surged as much as 7 per cent higher. One hour into trading, TAIEX eased to 4,536.17, still up 136.2 points, or 3.1 per cent, from Tuesday's closing figure.

Analysts attributed the TAIEX surge to Tuesday's rally on Wall Street.