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.

Frankfurt - European stocks stormed ahead Wednesday on hopes of lower interest rates.

Amid expectations of the US Federal Reserve delivering another hefty cut in borrowing costs Wednesday, Europe's blue-chip Stoxx 50 climbed 7.8 per cent to 2222 after chalking up even bigger gains during the day.

The positive mood was reflected across national bourses with shares in London gaining more than 6 per cent and Paris jumping more than 7 per cent as the afternoon session drew to a close. Stocks in Zurich were up 5.40 per cent.

Paris - Invigorated by a very strong rebound on Wall Street overnight, French shares were up sharply in early Wednesday trading on the Paris Bourse.