New York - After a topsy-turvy start to the week, US stocks fell only slightly Wednesday as investors awaited the outcome of a Senate vote on the 700-billion-dollar rescue plan.

Stocks were driven down by reports that car sales and manufacturing fell sharply in the last month - signs that the availability of credit was tightening across the country.

The Senate was to vote late Wednesday on an amended version of the massive financial rescue package, which failed to pass the lower House of Representatives on Monday. Congressional leaders voiced confidence the new bill would be approved.

Washington - The Senate was to vote Wednesday evening on a new version of the 700-billion-dollar financial rescue plan as politicians warned that the US economy might not survive another failure.

Democrats who control the Senate and minority Republicans hammered out a new deal, increasing guarantees on bank savings and adding tax provisions, after the original bail-out plan was surprisingly defeated in the lower House of Representatives on Monday.

"If the financial bill fails in Congress yet again, the present crisis will turn into a disaster," warned Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Senator John McCain.

Alex Mathew, head - research centre, Geojit Financial Services, said that the stock market, on Tuesday (Sep 30), recovered a lot from its lows on reports from the Finance Ministry that state run banking institutions do not have risky exposure, and the fundamentals of Indian economic system are really strong. 

Mr. Mathew said, “It is very interesting to note that US Chicago Board Options Exchange’s volatility Index has increased by 39% to 48.4% and finally closed at 46.7% yesterday.”

Sydney - Australian shares soared Wednesday at the opening bell in the wake of a big rise on Wall Street.

The ASX200 put on 163 points, or 3.5 per cent, to reach 4,762 in the first 30 minutes of trading.

Analysts predicted continued turbulence - the index lost 4.2 per cent Tuesday - until a financial bailout package passes the US Congress.

An indication of the uncertainty - and the effect of the market turbulence on the real economy - was the postponement of plans to build a new terminal at Canberra airport.

Tokyo - The Tokyo stock market was higher in early trading Wednes

Cairo  - While world markets were going up and down on Tuesday, in the wake of US Congress defeat of a 700-billion- dollar plan to ease trouble in the financial industry, the Egyptian stock market was safe from all the turmoil.

It was closed - marking the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The Egyptian Stock Exchange, along with other Arab bourses, were not open due to the three-day feast holiday, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.