Indian equities rallied at the opening time on the back of encouraging global signals and domestic inflationary figures calming down to single digit levels.

But, stocks tumbled into the red zone because of profit booking.

Realty, metal stocks gained ground, while consumer goods, IT and oil & gas stocks have shed a major portion of their early gains.. BSE Midcap and Smallcap index declined 0.38% and 0.19% respectively.

The 30-share index BSE Sensex, today, opened with a gain of 262.92 points, at 9,799.25.

Manila - Philippine share prices rose 3.078 per cent on Friday as investors snapped up bargain stocks on positive economic prospects despite the global financial crisis.

The 30-share composite index of the Philippine Stock Exchange added 59.08 points to close at 1,978.05 from Thursday's finish of 1,918.97.

A total of 1.004 billion shares worth 1.373 billion pesos (28.02 million dollars) were traded.

Gainers led losers 49 to 26, while 47 issues were unchanged.

Tokyo - Stocks bounced back Friday in Tokyo on the back of Wall Street's overnight rises and the yen weakening against the dollar.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 351.15 points, or 4.26 per cent, in morning trading to 8,589.79, as investors snapped up bargains.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also up 23.11 points, or 2.76 per cent, to 860.64.

New York - US stocks delivered their largest rally in two weeks, adding more than 6 per cent Thursday to the three major indices and erasing more than 4-per-cent losses booked Wednesday.

The reversals were fuelled by a grab for cheap energy shares. Beleaguered real-estate companies got new wind after CB Richard Ellis Inc raised cash in a share sale and gained 43 per cent, Bloomberg financial news service reported.

Kuwait City - ­ Kuwait halted trading in its stock exchange on Thursday after traders demanded action to stop major losses, the country's trade minister and its state news agency said.

The halt in trading came after a court order on Thursday.

Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmad Baqer told Al-Arabiya TV that trading could resume on Sunday.

The station showed footage of traders protesting at the stock exchange.

Beijing - Shares on China's two stock markets jumped about 4 per cent Thursday, spurred by government economic measures and bucking the downward trend of other Asian markets.

The key Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks shares traded in foreign and local currencies, gained 3.68 per cent to end the day at 1,927.61, up 68.5 points.