Tokyo  - Stocks in Tokyo fell in Thursday morning trading when investors sold shares to lock in profits from the previous day's gains.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 79.02 points, or 1.07 per cent, to 7,297.1 after closing 4.55 per cent higher Wednesday.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also fell 15.93 points, or 2.21 per cent, to 706.35, a day after rising 2.67 per cent after surges on Wall Street and hopes for stabilization in the financial industry.

New York  - US stocks finished their biggest two-day rally since New Year's on Wednesday, inching upwards as JPMorgan Chase & Co joined Citigroup with an optimistic report on profits and sparked further speculation that the financial crisis may be waning.

JPMorgan Chase shares climbed 4.6 per cent after CEO James Dimon said that his bank, too, was profitable in January and February, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Hong Kong  - Hong Kong shares climbed 2 per cent Wednesday in a second consecutive day of gains spurred by the recovery in the price of HSBC shares.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index added 236.61 points, or 2.02 per cent, to close the day at 11,930.66. Turnover was 44.7 billion Hong Kong dollars (5.76 billion US dollars.)

The rise was led by a 1.99 per cent increase in HSBC shares which at the start of trading jumped 11.7 per cent higher, pulling the index up by 4.6 per cent in the opening minutes.

Seoul  - Shares surged 3.2 per ce

Indian equities on Monday (March 09) ended the day sluggishly on account of continued selling pressure, global weakness as unabated fears over further slump of US and European financial systems continued to weigh down investors response.

Realty, FMCG and realty stocks were the major losers of the day. BSE Realty, which was down by 3.21%, remained top losers among sectoral indices.