Seoul

South Korea's stock market staged a bull run. Kim Jonghan, a market analyst at the Korea Stock Exchange, said the market would be on the up throughout the day, but said he was not sure whether there was enough steam for it to continue.

The composite stock index closed the morning session at 328.33, up 4.74% or 14.85 points.

Tokyo dealers took heart from share gains in Seoul

Tokyo

The turn-around in Seoul encouraged investors in Japan.

Stocks in Tokyo were firmer, helped by the fact that the Japanese yen managed to recover ground against the US dollar.

Yasuo Ueki, general manager of Nikko Securities, said "negative factors that pulled down Tokyo share prices yesterday disappeared today."

He warned, however, that the market lacked incentives to extend the gains.

The Nikkei Stock Average rose 132.26 points to close at 15,796.55.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong shares opened slightly lower on Thursday, but by midday it broke through the psychologically important 9.000 level, and closed the morning session nearly 82 points higher at 9,065.25.

However, the rebound was short-lived and the Hang Seng closed 105.49 points lower at 8,877.94 on worries about the territory's own economy .

On Wednesday the Hang Seng lost 5% of its value. James Osborn, a sales director at ING Baring Securities said the market had been "oversold" and there was "no real follow-through today. It's a fragile market but a quiet market."

Sydney

The Australian share market was higher, with a stronger Japanese market buoying local investors. Shortly before close the All Ordinaries index stood at 2707.3 - up 20.3 points.

Worries in Singapore, Manila and Auckland

However, the market jitters in the region are not over yet.

In Singapore, the accumulation of bad news from around the region and fears about a recession in Singapore itself weighed down the Straits Times Industrials Index, which fell about 1% or 13.39 points to 1282.14.

The Manila market ended trading about 2.2% down, and in New Zealand stocks fell 1.4%.

IMF wants Jakarta to reconsider reforms

In Indonesia the International Monetary Fund's Asia-Pacific director, Hubert Neiss, said the country's economic reform programme needed adjusting because of the country's worsening situation.