Amman - Arab stock markets fluctuated violently this week, reflecting turmoil on the world markets and lack of confidence that measures taken by the world's largest economies could succeed in handling the global financial crisis, financial analysts said Friday.

"We believe that the psychological impact of developments on world markets will continue to be felt in the Middle East bourses for some time to come," Wajdi Makhamreh, Chief Operating Officer at the Amman- based Sanabel International Holding told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Singapore: Singapore shares ended the week on a lower note Friday, with the Straits Times Index (STI) dropping by 72.69 points, or 3.72 per cent, to close at 1878.51.

At mid-day, the STI was up 9.71 points to 1960.91, however, the afternoon saw selling pressure due to gloomy economic outlook despite government support for the banking sector and Singapore dollar deposits.

"We had seen first two days of gains but the index fell for the rest of the three days on continuing concern about world economic outlook," a Singapore trader said.

New Delhi - Indian markets extended their losses Friday as the benchmark Sensex stock index fell by nearly 4 per cent by midafternoon after opening on a strong note.

The 30-share sensitive index was quoted at 10,175.1, down 406.39 points, or 3.84 per cent.

Besides information technology firms Satyam Computer Services Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, all the other of its 28 stocks were in the red.

Similarly, the broader 50-share Nifty index fell by 128.2 points, or 3.92 per cent, to 3141.1.

Foreign funds, which have been the main drivers of India's stock market upswing in recent years, have been net sellers this week, pulling out more than a billion dollars.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares fell 4.4 per cent Friday on their third-consecutive day of heavy losses triggered by growing fears of a prolonged global recession.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index lost 676.31 points to end the day at 14,554.21, one of its lowest levels in three years. Turnover was
59.3 billion Hong Kong dollars (7.64 billion US dollars).

Friday's losses followed 5-per-cent falls Wednesday and Thursday, stripping away gains made early in the week when bank guarantee schemes were announced worldwide.

Seoul - Shares dove Friday on the Seoul stock exchange as persistent fears of a worldwide economic recession weighed heavily on the market, but the won soared against the US dollar.

Taipei - Taiwan stocks ended 2.28 per cent lower Friday, losing its 5,000-point support as jittery investors sold strongly, despite Wall Street's overnight rally, dealers said.

Unaffected by Wall Street's sharp 400-point gain overnight, the Taiex index opened lower and extended its downtrend throughout the trading session to close at 4,960.40, a drop of 115.57 points or 2.28 per cent.

Dealers said investors were worried about the prospect of the market when the Taiwan Stocks Exchange resumes the daily 7- per-cent bottom limit next week. The regulator halved the bottom limit two weeks ago to try to cushion the slump of the local stocks in response to US financial turmoil.