New Delhi, Oct 23 : Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday advised investors not to indulge in panic sale of stocks.

Chidambaram’s comment came after Sensex (the country’s main stock index) plunged to its lowest since June 2006 amidst a gloomy economic outlook all over the world.

The Finance Minister also assured that there was adequate liquidity in the banking system and that banks should lend aggressively.

Benchmarks opened below psychological levels (10,000 for Sensex and 3000 for Nifty) following sharp declines overnight in US and Asian stocks, which tumbled to

Stockholm - Shares for main Swedish banking groups Nordea, Swedbank and SEB on Thursday declined after they reported third-quarter 2008 results.

While the reports suggested they had weathered the first phases of the financial turmoil, the banks' outlooks were more cautious.

Shares for the three groups initially opened in positive territory but fell off. Swedbank was down 8 per cent and SEB off some 5 per cent early afternoon on the Stockholm bourse.

The fourth major group Handelsbanken, which reported Wednesday, bucked the trend and remained up.

Amsterdam- The reserves of Dutch pension funds have dropped dramatically due to investment losses in the ongoing financial crisis, Dutch media reported on Thursday.

The "cover factor" of many funds (a percentage that determines to what extent the funds can meet their obligations to pay pensions) have dropped dramatically in the third quarter of 2008.

Funds are required by law to hold in reserve a minimum of 125 per cent of obligations.

Taipei - A Taiwan court Thursday sentenced a Singaporean businessman to two years and four months in prison over the embezzlement of 30 million US dollars intended to be used to persuade Papua New Guinea (PNG) to switch diplomatic recognition to from China Taipei.

"The court has found Wu Shih-tsai guilty of forgery of document(s) and defamation and thus sentenced him to two years and four months in prison," said the Taipei District Court in its verdict.

Johannesburg - The split in South Africa's ruling African National Congress took an increasingly nasty turn Thursday, with supporters of the biggest faction loyal to party leader Jacob Zuma threatening to kill dissidents planning to form a rival party.

A group of Zuma supporters demonstrated outside a hall in a township south of Johannesburg where former ANC chairman and splinter faction leader Mosiuoa Lekota was due to address a rally.

"Kill Shilowa, kill Lekota," they were quoted by SAPA news agency as chanting.

London  - A homeless man is set to receive a reward for finding a wax likeness of Paul McCartney's head a week after it was lost on a train, according to The Sun in its Thursday edition.

According to the paper, Tony Silva, 45, discovered the likeness of the former Beatle at a train station west of London. Now he could receive a finder's fee of 2,000 pounds
(3,248 dollars).

"I feel like I've won the lottery," said Silva, who learned about the finder's fee from a newspaper he happened to be sleeping on.