Seoul - Shares continued their rebound Friday on the Seoul stock exchange, tracking overnight gains in the US market, after suffering heavy losses earlier this week.

However, South Korea's currency, the won, fell again, after it posted its largest gain versus the dollar in a decade Thursday on a currency swap deal between the country's central bank and the US Federal Reserve.

The benchmark Kospi index soared 28.34 points, or 2.6 per cent, to close at 1,113.06.

Advancing issues outpaced decliners 643 to 218.

Tokyo - Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average plunged 5 per cent Friday and fell below 9,000 despite the Bank of Japan's announcement of an interest-rate cut as investors turned bearish over lowered corporate earnings forecasts.

The Nikkei index dropped 452.78 points to close at 8,576.98.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also fell 32.25 points, or 3.59 per cent, to 867.12.

Taipei - Taiwan stocks rose nearly 4 per cent Friday on an overnight rally on Wall Street and in expectation of expanded Taiwan-China exchanges.

The Taiex index soared 187.02 points, or 3.99 per cent, to close at 4,870.6.

Analysts attributed the surge not only to Thursday's rally on Wall Street, where the three major indices rose more than 2 per cent, but also to China's promise to ease restrictions on mainlanders visiting Taiwan.

Manila - Philippine share prices rose 4.62 per cent on Friday as investors snapped up undervalued stocks.

The Philippine Stock Exchange's 30-share composite index gained 86.16 points to close at 1,951.09 points from Thursday's finish of 1,864.93.

A total of 1.78 billion shares valued at 3.10 billion dollars (63.26 million dollars) were traded.

Gainers outpaced losers 99 to 16, while 32 issues were unchanged.

Indian equities opened strongly on the back of positive global cues.

IT, FMCG and oil & gas stocks gained ground. BSE Midcap and Smallcap index rose more than 2% each.

The US Federal Reserve slashed bank rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday (Oct 29), and many other central banking institutions are likely to follow suit sooner than later.

The inflationary figures declined to 10.68% for the week ended October 18, as compared with 11.07 per cent for the previous week. The annual rate of inflation was 3.11 per cent in the corresponding period a year ago.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong stocks fell 3.7 per cent in early trading Friday on profit-taking after two days of double digit gains.

The blue-chip Hang Seng index lost 525 points in the first hour after opening, dropping to 13,804 points.

Analysts blamed the fall on profit-taking after three consecutive days of gains which has seen the index bounce back by 23 per cent after recording one of its biggest day losses Monday.

This week has been one of the most volatile in the Hang Seng's history.