Financial Secretary Donald Tsang told reporters the government would not tolerate speculative attempts to "manipulate our interest rates by engineering extreme conditions in the money market so that they can benefit from the short positions they have built up in Hang Seng Index futures."

Rumours swirled throughout the day over where the buyers were coming from as the key Hang Seng Index bolted up from a five-year low, effecting the biggest daily percentage increase in the market in 23 years.

A stronger yen lent a helping hand to Asian markets, but Tokyo stocks were an exception to the regional uptrend, falling 1.7 per cent. In late Tokyo trade, the yen was at 144.87-90 tothe dollar, strengthening fromthe 145.73 yen level struck in early trading and 146.54-57 late Thursday.

Hong Kong's key Hang Seng Index ended the day up 564.27 points at 7,224.69 with volumes much higher than in recent days at 8.54 billion Hong Kong dollars (US $ 1.1 billion).

"There have been a lot of short positions on the Hang Seng coinciding with an attack on the currency building up in the last couple of months," said Howard Gorges of South China Brokerage. "You could say the speculators were massively short on Hong Kong and now, all of a sudden, prehaps yesterday afternoon, buying began to appear.''

Both international and mainland Chinese institutions were seen rushing to accumulate core Hang Seng Index constituent stocks after buying interest mid-way through the afternoon session propelled the benchmark back over and past the 7,000 point level.

SG Securities sales director Miles Remington said: "We're seeing almost panic buying by some institutions well short of the market," Remington said.TOKYO: Japanese share prices closed 1.7 per cent lower with investors depressed by the previous day's sharp decline on Wall Street, brokers said. "New York's (fall) spurred renewed selling of international blue chips," a New Japan Securities Co. Ltd. broker said.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock average of the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped 258. 09 POints to end at 15,123.93.

The key Nikkei index dropped from the outset as sentiment was hit by concern about the market outlook in Asia and the United States following Thursday's decline on Wall Street, brokers said. But share prices ended clear of the lows following the bounce of the Hong Kong market, brokers said.

"The reason for the fall on the day, despite the gains of the Hang Seng index, is position adjustment ahead of the weekend," said a Meiko Securities Co Ltd broker.

SINGAPORE: Singapore's stock prices ended 0.9 per cent higher on a technical rebound after massive selling over the week. The key Straits Times Industrials index of the StockExchange of Singapore rose8.37 points to end at 974.11 while the broader All-Singapore index rose 0.08 point to 284.60.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's key stock index reversed earlier losses to end 0.3 per cent higher on short-covering, after an earlier selldown over another low sovereign debt rating, dealers said. The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange's 100-share weighted composite index rose 1.25 POints to end at 327.98, off an earlier low of 315.53 points.

"The market is really not going anywhere. The rebound is just technical and on the back of Hong Kong's recovery," said a senior dealer with a local brokerage.

BANGKOK: Thai share prices rebounded 5.5 per cent amid relief and speculation over financial sector restructuring and gains in some regional markets, analysts said. The gains came as Thailand's central bank nationalised two small banks and five finance firms at the start of a sweeping once-and-for-all clean up of the country's rotten financial sector. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)broad-based index gained 12.75 points to close at 243.62 points, while the select SET 50 gained 1.22 points to 16.67 points.

JAKARTA: Share prices closed 2.9 per cent higher on the Jakarta Stock Exchange on a technical rebound in large caps triggered by firmer Hong Kong stocks, dealers said.

"In early trade, the market was actually quite weak. The strong rebound in Hong Kong today has lifted sentiment here. Another thing was the yen rebound. It's also good news for us," a dealer with a European brokerage said. The composite index ended the day 11.689 points higher at 414.630. Turnover totalled 497.3 million shares worth 1.135 trillion rupiah (88.7 million dollars).

MANILA: Philippine share prices closed 2.7 per cent higher as investors bought stocks that have fallen to bargain levels, analysts said.

"I think this is just a reaction from the previous days' losses," Oliver Plana of Asiasec Equities Inc. said, adding that sell offs in the past few days had been "a bit overdone." ThePhilippine Stock Exchange composite index rose 34.63 points to close at 1,337.92.

SEOUL: South Korean share prices closed 0.5 per cent higher, snapping a five-day losing streak as sentiment improved over the rebound of the Japanese yen and gains by regional stock markets, dealers said. The Korea Stock Exchange main index closed up 1.60 points at 304.61, off a high of 305.79 and low of 297.33. "Retail investors increased buy orders as the yen gained against the dollar," a dealer with Dongwon Securities said.

SHANGHAI: Shanghai's B shares, nominally reserved for foreign investors, surged 5.2 per cent in line with rises on the Hong Kong market, dealers said. "The B shares soared due to the rebound in Hong Kong markets and the Japanese yeN. Many stocks closed limit-up," a Goldman Sachs dealer said.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange's B share index added 1.36 points to settle at 27.61points while the A share index of locally-traded stocks ended down 39. 42 points, or 3.1 per cent, to 1,243.04 points.