Taipei - Taiwan stocks plunged 2.73 per cent Thursday amid heavy
selling triggered by US financial turmoil and Wall Street's sharp fall
overnight, dealers said.

The Weighted Price Index of Taiwan Stock Exchange opened down 4.19
per cent as jittery investors dumped their holdings, but government
funds soon moved in to buy heavily to ease the sliding trend, allowing
the index to close at 5,641.95 points, down 158.92 points, or 2.73 per
cent, dealers said.

In mid-morning amid heavy sell-offs, Finance Minister Lee Sush-der

Seoul - Shares fell more than 2 p

Paris - Buoyed by the intervention of major central banks in foreign exchange markets, French shares on Thursday were resisting the downward pull created by Wednesday's Wall Street sell-off.

One hour after opening, the Paris Bourse's benchmark CAC 40 was up 0.19 per cent, at 4,007.60. Shortly after trading began, the CAC 40 sank to its lowest level in three years before recovering.

The resistance was led by Franco-Belgian bank Dexia, which gained 5 per cent to 8.64 euros. French bank BNP Paribas was up 2.16 per cent, at 57.40 euros.

Moscow - Russia's two leading stock exchanges remained mostly shut for the third day Thursday as stocks took their worst dive since the 1998 financial crisis.

The dollar-denominated RTS is still waiting for permission from the Federal Financial Markets Service to resume trading, the market's press office said.

A spokesman said it was unclear whether the index would open Thursday.

Tokyo - Asia-Pacific stocks on Thursday mirrored the overnight plunges on Wall Street as credit dried up and fears rose that more financial companies would fail.

The biggest drops in the region were seen in Hong Kong, whose benchmark Hang Seng Index fell as much as 7.38 per cent before recovering; the Philippines at 4.25 per cent; and Thailand, which regained some ground after suffering losses of more than 5 per cent during the trading day.

Frankfurt - Major central banks have intervened in foreign exchange markets to improved liquidity, a statement early Thursday from the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt said.

It said the concerted move aimed to ease strains in worldwide exchange of dollars. Together with other moves by individual central banks in recent days, it would improve liquidity on world financial markets.

The participating banks were the ECB, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank.