Bucharest - Romania's Bucharest Stock Exchange halted regular trading Friday for the second time this week, as the massive global sell-off hit Eastern Europe's fastest-growing economy.

Seeking to stem panic selling, exchange officials blocked transactions right at the start of Friday's session and drastically shortened the trading day to 15 minutes, news reports said.

Otherwise, the broad-based BET-C index would have plunged 15 per cent after the latest share plunge on Wall Street and in Asian markets, said Stere Farmache, the exchange's general manager.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares plunged by more than 7 per cent Friday, falling below 15,000 for the first time in three years, as panic gripped regional markets.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index lost 1,146.37 points, or 7.19 per cent, to close at 14,796.87. Turnover was 69.3 billion Hong Kong dollars (8.9 billion US dollars).

Analysts said they saw no end to the rout in sight and expected losses to continue into next week as confidence collapses in the rescue packages rolled out by governments worldwide.

Milan, Italy - The Milan Bourse's benchmark S&P/MIB Index, fell 6.65 per cent to 20,415 at 10:20 am (820 GMT) on Friday.

Vienna -

Paris - Following big losses on Wall Street and Asian markets, French shares plummeted in early trading on Friday, with the benchmark CAC 40 tumbling more than 10 per cent before recovering slightly.

After one hour of trading, the index had given up 7.68 per cent, to 3,178.42, with all 40 listed shares in the minus column.

According to Benoit Debroissia, market analyst at Richelieu Finance in Paris, "We are going through a systemic shock in which risk propagates itself through the entire financial system like a virus."

Bangkok - Thailand's stock market regulator