Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened lower Thursday as investors sold shares to lock in profits from previous day's gains.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average, which gained more than 2 per cent the previous day, ended morning trading at 13,093.89, down 161 points, or 1.21 per cent.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 19.89 points, or 1.56 per cent, at 1,257.38.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar was quoted at 109.47-52 yen, up from Wednesday 5 pm quote of 108.32-33 yen.

Taipei - The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp will change its initials from TSEC to TWSE starting next week to avoid being confused with several foreign bourses that have the same initials, a newspaper reported Thursday.

The website of the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp will also be changed on Monday to www. twse. com. tw, but the current web address will continue to function for six months, the Taipei Times said.

New York - Wall Street stock indices climbed on Wednesday as positive technology and mining-sector news eclipsed a poor earnings report from mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

Cisco Systems Inc, the largest producer of networking equipment, reported fourth-quarter profits that were slightly better than expected while revenue had come in above 10 billion dollars for the first time.

Microsoft Corp improved after a UBS AG analyst predicted the software giant was preparing to buy back 20 billion dollars in stock over the coming thee months.

Seoul - Shares jumped 2.8 per cent Wednesday on the

The 30-share index BSE Sensex continued its positive rally on account of good buying action witnessed across sectors.

However, a few blue chip stocks went down sharply on selling pressure.  

At 1:17 p.m, the BSE Sensex gained 265.07 points at 15,226.14, while NSE Nifty stood at 4566.25, up 63.40 points.

The overall market breadth was positive.

Manila - Philippine share prices soared 3.64 per cent on Wednesday as investors cheered sliding oil prices and Wall Street's overnight gains.

The 30-share composite index of the Philippine Stock Exchange added 94.83 points to close at 2,697.21, from Tuesday's finish of 2,602.38.

A total of 4.53 billion shares worth 3.66 billion pesos (83.56 million dollars) were traded.

Advancers led decliners 107 to 21, while 39 issues were unchanged.