The Securities and Exchange Board of India, on Thursday said that short term selling is not a cause of market meltdown. SEBI Chairman futher added that it would not stop short selling as a regulator at this point of time. 

New York  - US stocks surged Friday on news that president- elect Barack Obama would tap New York Federal Reserve Chairman Timothy Geithner to head the Treasury.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index both gained more than 6 per cent on Friday, one day after the S&P had reached an 11-year low. The Dow hit a five-year low on Wednesday.

Singapore - Singapore shares rose Friday, making a technical turnaround on news of the government's financial support to local businesses.

The Straits Times Index rose by 2.67 per cent or 43.12 points to close at 1,657.07.

The Singapore Exchange closed with 208 gainers against 182 losers in thin trading, with volume of 934.8 million shares.

Analysts and economists said the market regained some ground after having been on the downward trend for the week.

Madrid - Spain's stock market watchdog CNMV on Friday suspended trade in stocks of the oil company Repsol amid reports that Russian oil giant Lukoil was about to acquire nearly 30 per cent of Repsol.

The CNMV also suspended the stocks of Criteria, a holding of La Caixa bank, which admitted to being in talks with Lukoil about selling all or part of its 12.5-per-cent stake in Repsol to the Russian company.

Lukoil was also reported to be in talks with the construction company Sacyr Vallehermoso, which holds a 20-per-cent stake in Repsol.

Sacyr stocks rose by nearly 14 per cent after trading opened, on top of a 13-per-cent surge on Thursday. Repsol and Criteria shares dropped by more than 2 per cent.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares staged an impressive rebound to close nearly 3 per cent higher Friday after falling by 3 per cent in the first half hour of business.

At one stage, the Hang Seng Index had jumped by nearly 1,000 points from its morning low to post a 4.5 per cent gain before tailing off slightly in afternoon trading.

The blue-chip index ended the day up 360.64 points or 2.93 per cent to end another turbulent week at 12,659.20 points. Turnover was a weak 50.4 billion Hong Kong dollars (6.5 billion US dollars).

Seoul - Shares jump