Taipei - The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSEC) launched a Sharia Index Thursday to attract funds from Islamic countries and to help Taiwan break into Islamic nations' financial markets.

TSEC launched the TSEC Taiwan Sharia Index in conjunction with the FTSE Group - a London-based index company owned by the Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange.

The TSEC Taiwan Sharia Index covers 68 medium and major stocks selected from FTSE's global equity index series and listed on TSEC.

Sydney - Fears of the country falling into recession dragged Australian stocks down 5.8 per cent Thursday.

The ASX 200 gave up 230 points to close at 3,697.

The resources sector was hit hard because of concerns that these Australian companies would suffer as commodity prices fall.

The Australian dollar was trading at 64 US cents, 2 US cents down on Wednesday's fix, despite intervention by the Reserve Bank of Australia to prop up the local currency.

Tokyo - Japan's key Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell more than 5 per cent in Thursday morning trading as the market sentiment was dampened due to persistent worries over the US economy and the yen trading stronger against other currencies.

The Nikkei index tumbled 5.12 per cent, or 445.46 points to 8,250.05.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also fell 36.84 points, or 4.21 per cent, to 838.39.

Exporters were hurt by the stronger yen as it shaves off Japanese firms' earnings overseas.

Taipei - The

New York  - As the US Treasury Department said it will prop up consumer lending as part of the emergency financial bail-out, US stock indices plunged more than 4 per cent Wednesday, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index dropping to a near five-year low.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index also reached a five- year low.