Washington - US legislators were hearing a changed tune on on Thursday as business and retired communities made a desperate last -minute push for final approval of a sweetened US financial rescue by the House of Representatives on Friday.

Business leaders met with US President George W Bush Friday morning at the White House, while the US Chamber of Commerce made an urgent appeal on its website for members to contact their legislators "and urge them to support this vital piece of legislation."

On Tuesday, Finance Minister P. Chidamabram and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) made efforts to relax investors who had been filled with tensions after the lawmakers rejected the much-awaited mega rescue package for bad mortgage debts in the U.S. Following the efforts made by Finance Minster and SEBI, the Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) hiked up by 264 points, in spite of the challenging global trends.  

Sydney - Australian stocks ended a topsy-turvy session marginally lower Thursday despite the news that the US Senate had approved a bail-out package for Wall Street.

The ASX200 slipped 33 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 4,761.

"Resources had a great rally yesterday, and they are giving back some of those gains today with BHP Billiton down and Rio Tinto down 4 per cent," analyst James Waggett of Bell Potter Securities said Thursday.

Tokyo - Japanese stocks fell Thursday as investors sold mainly export-oriented issues while uncertainties spread over the US government's bail-out package that passed the Senate earlier in the day.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average sank 213.5 points, or 1.88 per cent, to close at 11,154.76.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also sagged 24.16 points, or 2.19 per cent, to 1,076.97.

Tokyo - Stocks ended morning trading lower in Japan Thursday on uncertainties over the US government's bailout package that passed the Senate earlier in the day.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 125.61 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 11,242.65.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 18.41 points, or 1.67 per cent, at 1,082.72.

Washington - The US Senate approved a 700-billion-dollar financial rescue package Wednesday night that members said was essential to keep the world's largest economy from near-total collapse.

Senate leaders hoped the 74-25 vote would send a strong message to the lower House of Representatives, which rejected an earlier version of the bail-out plan on Monday and sent US stocks into a free-fall.

"I'm very very happy with this vote tonight," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the Senate.