Stock markets in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Bombay, Jakarta, Taipei and Seoul also fell on domestic worries, but Manila ended slightly higher, bolstered by the rise in the New York market overnight.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 108.60, 1 per cent, to 10,937.88 on Wednesday after two consecutive days of losses. Hong Kong share prices fell 1.3 per cent as buyers stayed on the sidelines due to a lack of fresh incentives, dealers said.

``There is no positive news around at the moment. The market is directionless,'' said Howard Gorges, vice-president at South China Brokerage. ``Traders were using rumours to knockprices down,'' he added.The key Hang Seng index lost 176.63 points to close at 13,367.56 on a turnover of $886 million. Dealers said rumours circulating in the market over possible speculative attacks on the Thai baht had stirred concern about the Hong Kong dollar.

Share prices in Tokyo fell 1 per cent as investors dumped export-linked issues in the face of a rising yen, brokers said. The Nikkei average of 225 leading issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 171.23 points to finish at 17,631.25, reversing a 2.1 per cent, 365.92-point gain in the previous session.

``As the dollar slipped to the 108-yen level, selling focused on international blue chips,'' said Tsutomu Ono, a senior analyst at Universal Securities Co Ltd. ``But there was a lot of energy in the market,'' he said. Singapore share prices closed 0.2 per cent lower amid a lack of fresh leads despite early Wall Street-inspired gains, dealers said. Malaysian share prices closed 2.3 per cent lower on foreign selling as local funds stayed on thesidelines. ``Foreign selling continued throughout the day,'' an institutional dealer said.