Johannesburg  - Voting was underway Friday in parliamentary elections in Swaziland that have been branded farcical by political parties that are barred from contesting polls in Africa's last absolute monarchy.

Voters queued outside polling stations from early morning in the landlocked kingdom of around 1 million people to cast their ballot for 55 members of the 65-seat national assembly. King Mswati III names the remaining 10.

He also names the prime minister, ministers and judges.

The run-up to the polls has seen unprecedented protests in the normally peaceful country of mainly subsistence farmers, with political parties and trade unions using the occasion to underscore the lack of democracy in the country.

Seoul - Ending this week's roller coaster ride on a high note, shares surged 4.5 per cent Friday on the Seoul stock exchange following overnight gains on Wall Street and signs that US authorities might take new measures to help the troubled financial sector.

The benchmark Kospi index soared 63.36 points, or 4.6 per cent, to close at 1,455.78.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers 707 to 135.

The main index of the technology-heavy Kosdaq market gained 12.70 points to close at 446.46.

Seoul - Britains's HSBC Holdings Plc said Friday it has withdrawn from a deal to buy a 51 per cent stake in Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), due to falling asset values amid the global credit crisis.

"Taking into account all relevant factors including current asset values in world financial markets... HSBC Asia exercised its right to terminate the acquisition agreement with immediate effect," the bank said in a statement.

A year ago HSBC agreed to buy KEB, Korea's fifth largest lender, for 6.3 million dollars from US buyout fund Lone Star Funds, but the deal has been stalled over legal disputes stemming from the Lone Star's 2003 purchase of KEB.

Seoul - North Korea was scheduled to hold talks Friday with South Korea on outstanding oil shipments and economic aid promised to it for dismantling its nuclear programme.

The one-day meeting is to take place in Panmunjom, a village in the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said Thursday.

Seoul - Shares fell more than 2 p

Seoul - South Korean companies and financial markets will feel the after-effect of the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers in the short term, but officials and analysts are confident that the economy can cope with the turmoil in the long term.

Finance Minister Kang Man Soo told the parliament's financial committee on Wednesday he expected that foreign investors would continue to abandon their interests in the country for the time being.

But it would be unlikely that South Korea will suffer serious repercussions from the current US financial woes, despite the flight of foreign investors, Kang was quoted by the public broadcast station KBS as saying.