Wellington - New Zealand's central bank moved Friday to reassure the public that the local banking system was sound despite turbulence in the United States and global financial markets.

"While New Zealand will inevitably feel the effects of major financial shocks such as this, New Zealand banks are not involved in the sort of complex financial transactions that have caused significant losses in many of the large global institutions," Alan Bollard, governor of the Reserve Bank said in a statement.

Taipei - Taiwan stocks rose nearly six per cent in mid- morning trading Friday, boosted by Wall Street gains and an across- the-board rebound on major Asian stock markets.

One hour into trading, the TAIEX index surged 318.28 points, or 5.64 per cent, to 5,960.23 points.

Sydney - The era of cheap debt that powered Macquarie Bank Ltd to becoming Australia's most admired and most profitable financial institution is over.

Shareholders were hoping Friday that a share-price rebound signalled it was not also game over for the nation's biggest home-grown investment bank.

There was hectic buying of a counter wallowing at a five-year low.

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks bounced back in morning trading Friday as the Wall Street surged overnight on news about the US government's plan to create an entity to dispose of bad loans.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average surged 378.9 points, or 3.3 per cent, to 11,868.2.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also rose 42.44 points, or 3.87 per cent, to 1,140.12.

Sydney - Austral

New York  - US stocks posted significant gains on Thursday, the latest swing in a topsy-turvy week on Wall Street amid a burgeoning financial crisis and massive government interventions aimed at preventing wider economic fallout.

The markets appeared to be buoyed by talk of a more permanent solution to the financial turmoil after US legislators indicated a willingness to create a new government agency that would take on the bad loans of struggling banking firms.