Hong Kong - Hong Kong stocks ended a two-day rally Tuesday and fell back 3.87 per cent amid faltering confidence in the US plan to rescue large Wall Street debtors.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index lost 759.35 points to end the day at 18,872.85 points. Turnover was 64.3 billion US dollars (8.27 billion US dollars).

The decline followed two days of strong gains that took the Hong Kong index to within touching distance of the 20,000-point mark by Monday.

Sydney - Australian shares gave up some of their recent gains Tuesday in response to an overnight plunge on Wall Street.

The ASX 200 lost 111 points, or 2.2 per cent, to trade at 4,798 by the middle of the session.

The downturn came after two days of gains that had seen the index climb almost 10 per cent. It was still down by a quarter from its peak in November.

Again, financial counters were the worst hit. Macquarie Group Ltd gave up more than 7 per cent after soaring 45 per cent in the previous two sessions.

The Sensex continued to trade in the negative terrain on account of profit booking witnessed in frontline stocks such as real estate, banking and IT.

However, oil & gas stocks went up.

At 11.54 a.m., the 30-share index Sensex was trading down 104.28 points at 13,890.68. It also hit an intra-day high of 13,978.26 and an intra-day low of 13,721.42. 

Indian stocks opened on a lower note today (Sep 23) because of weak worldwide markets as fears on the long-term implications of the USD 700 billion bailout plan troubled capitalists. 

In the previous day session, the Sensex, which plunged to a low of 13,917.48, marked its closure at 13,994.96, down 47.36 points, while the NSE Nifty ended at 4223.05 with a loss of 22.20 points. The Nifty also touched an intra-day high of 4303.25 and an intr-day low of 4202.40.

Indian stocks opened on a lower note today (Sep 23) because of weak worldwide markets as fears on the long-term implications of the USD 700 billion bailout plan troubled capitalists. 

In the previous day session, the Sensex, which plunged to a low of 13,917.48, marked its closure at 13,994.96, down 47.36 points, while the NSE Nifty ended at 4223.05 with a loss of 22.20 points. The Nifty also touched an intra-day high of 4303.25 and an intr-day low of 4202.40.

Congress started challenging a 700-billion-dollar White House plan to rescue the US financial system Monday as US stocks plunged more than 3 per cent and industrialized countries pledged action to ensure global economic stability.

On Wall Street, the last two remaining major investment banks, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, left the high-wire world of risk to become bank-holding companies with the approval of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve.