We cover the unfolding world financial crisis throughout the day. Keep updating this page for latest news.
KEY POINTS:
4.15pm-SEOUL: South Korea's central bank cut has its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 5 percent in a surprise move.
The Bank of Korea said in a statement that it decided to lower its benchmark seven-day repurchase rate from 5.25 percent.
The decision came one day after central banks in the U.S., Europe and China cut rates in a bid to boost the world economy and deal with the financial crisis.
In August, the Bank of Korea had just raised its key rate from 5 percent to 5.25 percent for the first time in a year to cope with rising inflation.
3.42pm-TAIPEI: Taiwan's Central Bank is cutting a key interest rate for the second time in two weeks, amid slowing economic growth.
The cut on the 10-day loan rate to 3.25 percent from 3.5 percent came because Taiwan's exports have declined while consumer and investment expenditures dropped, the Central Bank said.
"Our economy has come under pressure for a slowdown," said Central Bank Governor Perng Fai-nan. "We hope the rate cut can stimulate consumption to spur economic growth."
The announcement helped to stabilize the Taiwan stock market early Thursday after the benchmark index fell 9.3 percent in the last three trading days in the wake of the financial crisis in the U.S. and Europe.
But the rate cut failed to spur a market rally amid the weak sentiments, traders said.
3.26pm-SEOUL: South Korea's central bank has cut its key interest rate, a mews report said.
Yonhap news agency reported Thursday that the Bank of Korea lowered its benchmark seven-day repurchase rate to 5 percent, from 5.25 percent.
The reported decision came one day after major central banks including the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank cut rates in a bid to boost the world economy and deal with the financial crisis.
The Bank of Korea in August raised its key rate from 5 percent to 5.25 percent for the first time in a year to cope with rising inflation.
3.26pm-HONG KONG: Hong Kong's key stock index rebounded during early trade this morning, local time.
The blue chip Hang Seng index gained 400.58 points, or 2.6 percent, to 15,832.31 within 15 minutes of trading.
The benchmark index plunged 8.2 percent yesterday on worries over worsening credit crisis.
3.21pm-TOKYO: The Nikkei average has done a U-turn, climbing 1.3 percent today after interest cuts world-wide, reports Reuters news agency.
The rise of 115 points comes after the Nikkei closed at 9203.49 - its lowest close since June, 2003.
2.46pm-JAKARTA: Trading on the Jakarta Stock Exchange was cancelled today and could remain suspended through the week following a share plunge of more than 10 percent on fears about the global financial crisis, officials said.
The benchmark JSX index tumbled 168.1 points, or 10.4 percent to 1451.67 points yesterday before authorities ordered a halt in trade in the late morning.
Bourse President Erry Firmansyah said authorities "want investors to calm down before they make decisions."
He blamed yesterday's sell-off on turmoil in the U.S. financial market and said economic fundamentals remained strong in Indonesia.
The decline was driven by huge losses in commodities stocks. The index is off 47 percent since the start of the year.
Investors seemed to be dismissing comments by the central bank governor that Indonesia will avoid the worst of the global credit crisis.
On Tuesday, Bank Indonesia raised interest rates a quarter percentage point, citing a two-year high in inflation.
2.46pm-: The Goodman Property Trust fell in value by $55.6 million, or 3.4 percent, in the six months to September.
The trust's manager, Goodman Ltd, said the total value of the trust's industrial and business property portfolio was $1.58 billion.
Chief executive John Dakin said there was "volatility across all asset classes at present and property markets internationally are being affected".
He said the trust's "high quality" portfolio had mitigated the full impact of the volatility.
Occupancy rates across the portfolio were 98 percent, and the weighted average lease term was 5.8 years.
Market rental levels have had average growth of 4 percent since March.
"Property fundamentals remain strong and quality assets continue to perform well. However, competition for assets from local and offshore investors has reduced and as a result investment yields have weakened."
2.36pm-SINGAPORE: Shares in Singapore are up 0.97 percent in the early hours of trading this morning, local time, AFP news agency reports.
2.16pm-: The Reserve Bank moved today to free up liquidity in the financial system and said it is keeping in close touch with banks and the government.
But on a day when central banks around the world cut interest rates in a coordinated move it kept the official cash rate unchanged at 7.5 percent.
Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard said today that the bank was monitoring international developments very closely.
"At the moment the New Zealand financial system is working satisfactorily. It has held up relatively well in the face of the volatility and disruptions that we are seeing internationally," he said.
"New Zealand banks have high-quality assets. Fortunately they do not have the poor quality assets that have proved so damaging overseas."
To further improve liquidity in the banking system it will temporarily lend on the basis of fully-secured Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBSs), prior to those securities achieving formal ratings. RMBSs are tradeable securities backed by mortgages.
2.14pm-SEOUL: South Korean share prices have dropped slightly after giving up early gains.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 0.2 percent, or 2.16 points, to 1284.16 in the first hour of trading.
The Kospi had risen as much as 1 percent in the opening minutes. The index fell 5.8 percent the day before.
The drop in South Korean stocks came after the Dow Jones industrial average fell 2 percent in New York yesterday, despite coordinated interest rate cuts by major central banks including the U.S. Federal Reserve aimed at restoring battered investor confidence.
1.49pm-MEXICO CITY: President Felipe Calderon is proposing $4.4 billion ($NZ 7.19 billion) in emergency spending next year to boost growth and jobs despite the world financial crisis.
Mexico's president said the nation's banks are solid and haven't slowed lending to companies or individuals.
Calderon said in a televised address that the spending measure "is not a financial rescue package, but focused on strengthening the motors of our economy."
1.24pm-TOKYO: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index has opened 0.78 percent lower following a massive sell-off.
The Japanese stock index shed 71.98 points to 9131.34 in the first five minutes of trading Thursday.
The sluggish trade comes after the Nikkei index plummeted 9.4 percent - its biggest one-day drop in 21 years - to finish at a five-year low on Wednesday as jittery investors dumped stocks on deepening fears over the global financial crisis.
Sentiment in Tokyo was also downbeat in line with an overnight decline on Wall Street, which has seen precipitous declines amid gloom over the global economy.
1.20pm-TOKYO: Core machinery orders - a key barometer of Japanese corporate capital spending - plunged in August.
The Japanese Government's cabinet office said core machinery orders, which exclude often volatile orders from electric power firms and those for ships, fell 14.5 percent to 891.7 billion yen (NZ14.5 billion) in August from the previous month.
It is the third straight month of decline and are far worse than Kyodo news agency's forecast for a 3.3 percent drop.
The figures are considered an important gauge of business investment in the future and is further evidence that the Japanese economy is faltering amid the global slowdown.
12.40pm-SYDNEY: The Australian share market has opened weaker.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 41.2 points, or 0.94 percent, to 4346.9 just after opening, while the broader All Ordinaries had fallen 42.5 points points, or 0.75 percent, to 4327.3.
12.07pm- The NZX has treaded water this morning. The NZX-50 index is essentially unchanged at 2944, down 3 points, a drop of just 0.1 per cent. It closed last night at 2948.31.
Top stock Telecom is down 5c at $2.62, Contact Energy is down 4c at $7.36 and Fletcher Building shares are up 9c at $6.45.
12.03pm-CASTRIES: Small developing countries have few resources to cushion the impact of high food and fuel prices and the global finance crisis, The prime minister of St. Lucia in the Caribbean said.
Prime Minister Stephenson King called on governments to commit to protecting their most vulnerable people.
"The worst thing that can happen at this time is for the world to slump into a recession," he said.
St. Lucia hosted a two-day meeting of finance ministers and other officials from 53 former British colonies. The agenda also includes trade issues and reform of the IMF and World Bank.
11.58am- Middle income earners and younger New Zealanders are at risk of debt stress by Christmas, credit reporting agency Dun & Bradstreet warns.
Its latest survey of consumer credit expectations shows a ``debt divide' emerging in New Zealand as the global credit crisis impacts on spending behaviours.
One third of middle income earners and younger people expect to be forced to use their credit card to make ends meet, while one third of high income earners expect to lower their debt levels in the coming three months.
11.46am-NEW YORK: Gold has jumped $104 - or 13 percent - in the past month as a widening financial crisis batters stock markets across the globe, spurring investors to buy the safe-haven metal.
Jon Nadler, analyst with Kitco Bullion Dealers Montreal, said gold should be trading higher "in the wake of these apparently desperate attempts by officialdom to keep the fabric of the markets from ripping apart."
11.39am-SYDNEY: The Australian dollar has opened down 2.7 cents after hitting a five year low overnight. It is now sitting at 54.3 cents.
11.29am-CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said that some OPEC members are calling for an extraordinary meeting as world oil prices continue a downward spiral.
Chavez did not reveal which members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries want to gather for talks before the group's December 17 meeting in Algeria, but analysts believe Venezuela and the cartel's other price hawks want to prop up prices by lowering production.
Oil prices have fallen about 40 percent since surging to a historic high of US$147 a barrel on July 11. Light, sweet crude for November delivery closed at US$88.95 on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday.
11.26am-NEW YORK: The squeezed credit markets have seen just a few hints of loosening after the Federal Reserve slashed the target Fed funds rate by a half-point to 1.5 percent.
The Fed also reduced its emergency lending rate to banks by half a percentage point to 1.75 percent and raised the limit that primary-dealer banks can borrow in securities from the Fed to $5 billion from $4 billion.
It's possible the government's efforts will just take time to work their way through the distressed financial system before lending significantly loosens up again.
"These credit market conditions did not happen overnight, and it's not going to be resolved in one night, either," said Robert Dye, senior economist for PNC Financial Services Group.
But market participants are nervous. Moody's Investors Service said it sees credit defaults by the world's riskiest corporate borrowers spiking over the next year, which could make lending an even less attractive enterprise.
11.20am-WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve has agreed to provide insurance giant American International Group with a loan of up to $US37.8 billion ($NZ63), on top of one made to the troubled company last month.
Under the new program, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will borrow up to $37.8 billion in investment-grade, fixed income securities from AIG in return for cash collateral.
These securities were previously lent by AIG's insurance company subsidiaries to third parties.
Last month, the Fed provided an $85 billion loan to the company, which was on the brink of bankruptcy.
11.11am-BRUSSELS: The European Union sees no problems with Britain's unilateral move to protect its banking sector.
Both France, acting as the current head of the 27 EU governments, and the European Commission French European Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet acknowledged criticism that EU governments reacted slowly to the crisis but said France was determined to make nations work together more closely on their individual emergency plans.
"European coordination is a practical reality," he told the European Parliament. "The essential thing is that Europeans act together."
"We are not a federal state comparable to the United States of America. We should not be embarrassed by that. We have to work within the institutional context that we have," Jouyet said.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso pressed European governments to increase financial supervision.
"Events are moving very quickly, so we need speed," he said. "Firefighting is not enough."
10.56am-BRUSSELS: The European Union sees no problems with Britain's unilateral move to protect its banking sector.
Both France, acting as the current head of the 27 EU governments, and the European Commission said the plan to partly nationalise banks and guarantee bank loans met EU guidelines on how far nations could go to save their financial systems.
The guidelines were agreesd to on Tuesday.
10.47am-SAO PAULO: Latin America is being hit by the financial crisis, prompting central banks to sell billions of dollars in reserves to prop up local currencies while stocks dove in a third straight day of extremely volatile trading.
Chile's IPSA was leading losses in late afternoon trading, down 4.8 percent to 2223, and Brazil's Ibovespa closed down 3.9 percent to 38,594 - its lowest close since October, 2006.
Colombia's IGPC index was down 3.2 percent to 8411 in late afternoon trading, while Argentina's Merval was off 1.8 percent to 1359.
Mexico's IPC index fell 1 percent to 20,679.
10.38am- The New Zealand sharemarket has opened slightly lower this morning, down 0.48 percent or 14.186 points.
NZPA reports there is speculation Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard will follow Australia and cut the official cash rate by 100 basis points or 75 later this month.
Telecom is down 2c to 265, Contact Energy 6c to 734 and Fletcher Building was unchanged at 636.
Telstra was down 10c to 480, Sanford 14c to 545, Port of Tauranga 7c to 628, Nuplex 5c to 560 and Hallenstein Glassons 4c to 250.
The Warehouse was up 41c to 350 after it announced it was canning its Extra format stores.
Fellow retailer Michael Hill was up 2c to 75, Freightways up 5c to 305, Fisher & Paykel Health 1c to 301 and Kiwitrust 2c to 120.
10.29am- Council of Trade Unions economist Peter Conway is "50/50" when it comes to whether or not Alan Bollard will make an emergency interest rate cut.
Conway said the cut could "imply a sense of panic" but if the state of the share market continues, New Zealand will need a "boost".
He said New Zealand's interest rate should be slashed to 6 percent but he can wait until October 23.
10.00am-NEW YORK: The cutting of interest rates by central banks in the US, Europe, China and elsewhere failed to halt the slide on Wall ST - the Dow Jones index closing down 2 per cent.
9.14am- The Italian Cabinet has passed an emergency decree backing all bank deposits up to 103,000 (US$141,400), the level at which they are currently insured.
9.08am-NEW YORK: Oil prices closed down after touching their lowest level this year, pressured by a huge jump in US crude inventories and more signs of dwindling demand. Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell US$1.11 to settle at US$88.95 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil at point fell to US$86.05 -- the lowest price since December 6, 2007.
9.01am-WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund said today that the global economy was sinking in a maelstrom of financial turmoil and faced a painful crawl toward recovery in 2009.
"The world economy is now entering a major downturn in the face of the most dangerous shock in mature financial markets since the 1930s," the IMF said in its biannual World Economic Outlook (WEO) report.
The IMF revised downward its July forecasts for global economic growth to 3.9 per cent in 2008 and 3.0 per cent in 2009, the slowest pace since 2002. The markdowns shaved off 0.2 percentage point and a hefty 0.9 point, respectively.
8.55am-REYKJAVIK: Iceland has plunged further into financial turmoil - and muddled into a diplomatic spat with Britain over its handling of the crisis - as the country's third largest bank went into receivership and the government abandoned attempts to put a floor under its free-falling currency.
- NZ HERALD, NZPA, AP
