Tokyo - The Tokyo stock market opened more than 3 per cent higher Thursday after the US Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate to spur the economy.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 318.87 points, or 3.88 per cent, to 8,530.77.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was up 25.51 points, or 3.07 per cent, to 855.83.

Japan's central bank withdrew 1.5 trillion yen (15.41 billion dollars) from the money market Thursday after the key short-term interest rate fell below the official target.

Tokyo (dpa) - The Tokyo stock market opened higher Thursday after the US Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate to spur the economy. 

Buenos Aires - Argentina's central bank intervened in the country's foreign exchange market Wednesday with an injection of 1 billion dollars to contain the depreciation of the peso.

In the early hours of activity, the dollar rose 2.08 per cent against the peso to 3.43 pesos from 3.36. The Central Bank's intervention brought it down to 3.39 pesos, an increase of 0.9 per cent in relation to the previous day's closing.

Paris - Inspired by a strong surge on Wall Street overnight and driven by bargain hunters looking for undervalued stocks, stocks on the Paris Bourse soared on Wednesday.

The CAC 40 blue-chip index finished the session up by a healthy 9.23 per cent, closing at 3,402.57 points. Thirty-nine of its 40 listed stocks gained ground.

Building materials producer Saint Gobain was the day's biggest winner, rising by 18.57 per cent, to 28.63 euros, despite substantial drops in building permits and housing construction starts in the third quarter.

Frankfurt - Luxury carmaker Porsche released some of the price pressure on Volkswagen stock Wednesday, announcing in Stuttgart it would unwind futures contracts on up to 5 per cent of Volkswagen AG voting stock.

At the same time it affirmed its ultimate intention to buy "up to 75 per cent" of Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker.

The extraordinary tripling in the Volkswagen price in the space of Monday and Tuesday caught out many hedge funds who were forced to pay vast amounts for the scarce stock to settle short-selling deals.