Share prices rebound on major marts

TOKYO (AFP): Tokyo stock prices rebounded broadly yesterday morning after the dollar settled and Wall Street gained overnight, but the U.S. currency spiked briefly below 100 yen here.

The Bank of Japan was apparently in the market buying several hundred million dollars.

The Nikkei Stock Average of 225-selected issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended the morning session at 20,577.62 points, up 276.66 points or 1.4 percent.

Share prices rose on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, with the Nikkei Stock Average ending up 338.27 points or 1.7 percent at 20,639.23.

In Hong Kong, stock prices rebounded a slight 0.3 percent on the back of stronger U.S. and European markets with the Hang Seng Index gaining 26.01 points to close at 8,673.49.

Turnover thinned to HK$2.55 billion (US$327 million) from the previous day's HK$2.9 billion.

In Taipei, following the previous session's 36.4-point drop, the 374-issue weighted price index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange recovered 7.61 points or 0.13 percent to settle at 5,874.56 points.

In Singapore, the barometer Straits Times Industrials index gained 18.89 points to close provisionally at 2,227.60.

In Bangkok, the index closed at 1,252.93 points, down 0.15 percent from Monday, with 46.4 million shares worth 3.8 billion baht ($152 million) changing hands. Declines led advances, 133 to 128, with 96 issues closed unchanged.

In Sydney, the Key All Ordinaries Index closed at 1,974.4 points, up 17.0 points or 0.9 percent on the previous finish.

The index tumbled 60.5 points, or three percent, to 1957.4, on Monday, its lowest in 10 months and its biggest one-day fall since the 1991 Soviet coup.

The All Industrials Index surged 36.1 points to 2,885.4, while the All Resources Index edged up 1.9 points to 1,290.7.

National turnover totaled 235.8 million shares worth A$587.5 million ($423 million), rises slightly outnumbering falls.

In London, the blue-chip Financial Times Stock Exchange 100- share index was at 2,910.1 points, up 10.2 points. The narrower Financial Times 30 index was at 2,261.2 points, up 5.8 points.

In New York, the Dow Jones Index of 30 leading industrials ended the day 48.56 points (1.3 percent) higher at 3,685.50 points.

Some 250 million shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange with advancers outnumbering decliners 1,083 to 1,033, and 686 unchanged.