Washington - US stocks rallied for the first time in three days as the US House of Representatives began debate Friday on a new version of the finance rescue plan that the White House says is desperately needed.

Wachovia Corp rallied as much as 80 per cent after Wells Fargo & Co, the biggest West Coast bank, agreed to buy the lender for about 15.1 billion dollars.

The US jobless rate remained steady at a rate of 6.1 per cent in September, unchanged from the month before, but non-farm payrolls have shed another 159,000 jobs and employment continued to fall in construction, manufacturing and retail trade, the US Department of Labour said Friday.

The House of Representatives Friday began 90 minutes of debate on the new version of the finance rescue plan, but in a mood of resignation about the politically unpopular bail-out of Wall Street.

Representative Charles Rangel of New York began the speech-making, saying Congress was acting on the 700-billion-dollar rescue plan "with a political pistol at our heads."

New Delhi - Indian shares fell more than 3 per cent after mid-session Friday, tracking weak global cues despite the approval of the US bail-out package for the banking sector.

The country's benchmark Sensex was quoted at 12,658.21 points at 2 pm (0830 GMT), a loss of 3.04 per cent from its previous close.

Reliance Industries, the country's biggest private conglomerate led the losses in the 30-share sensitive index.

Similarly, the broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was trading at 3,842.85 for a midday loss of 2.73 per cent.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares fell back nearly 3 per cent Friday as jittery investors waited to see if the US economic rescue package would be approved in Washington.

The Hang Seng Index lost 528.71 points, or 2.9 per cent, to close the week at 17,682.4 points, one of its lowest levels for two years. Turnover was a weak 53.2 billion Hong Kong dollars (6.84 billion US dollars.)

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) introduced the currency futures trading in India on Wednesday. It was inaugurated by the chairman of Security and Exchange Borad of India, Chairman C. B. Bhave.

The currency derivatives segment (BSE-CDX) address the currency risks of investors through U.S. dollar-rupee future platforms. It is the first ever currency trading scheme in the country and the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) will also launch future currency trading very soon. 

Indian equities opened negatively due to weak global reaction, despite the US Senate voting in favor of the $700 billion financial rescue plan, which aims at reviving the drowning financial segment.

Moreover, the passage of Indo-US nuclear agreement also failed to boost the outlook during early trade.

Asian markets opened negative today (Oct 03) on growing worries over the U.S. economic system.

Today, the 30-share index, BSE Sensex opened at 12,899.62, down 156.05 points, as against its last closure at 13,056, up 195.24 points, on Wednesday (Oct 01).