HONG KONG, Sept 30: Asian stocks tumbled on Tuesday after the United States Congress in a shock move rejected a massive bailout plan for Wall Street, threatening to prolong the global financial crisis.

However, many bourses clawed back many of their losses on bargain hunting, with Hong Kong reversing a six per cent slide to end up in positive territory, while Singapore finished almost flat after opening nearly five per cent off.

Indexes opened sharply lower after news that Washington lawmakers had kicked out the $700-billion rescue package. The deal would have allowed the US government to buy up bad mortgage debt at the centre of the crisis, allowing banks to start lending again.

The markets had been taking their lead from Wall Street, where overnight the Dow Jones Industrial Average registered its biggest single-day point decline ever, shedding 777.68 points or 6.98 per cent to close at 10,365.45.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices plunged 4.1 per cent, dealers said.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 483.75 points to end at 11,259.86, the lowest since June 9, 2005.

The Topix index of all Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section issues dropped 40.46 points, or 3.6 per cent, to 1,087.41 points.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial dropped 4.7 per cent to 893 yen and Mizuho Financial Group slipped 4.1 per cent to 442,000 yen.

Toyota Motor slid 4.6 per cent to 4,380 yen. Sony tumbled 6.5 per cent to 3,170 yen and Canon declined 6.1pc to 3,820 yen.

HONG KONG: Share prices closed 0.8 per cent higher, dealers said.

Than benchmark Hang Seng Index finished 135.53 points higher at 18,106.21 after trading between 16,799.29 and 18,029.77 during the session. Turnover was 71.81 billion Hong Kong dollars (9.21 billion US).

Global financial turmoil remains an overhang. There is a lack of direction and I expect a wide and wild trading range for the Hang Seng Index to persist in the near term, Peter Lai, director at DBS Vickers Securities, said.

SYDNEY: Australian shares closed down 4.3 per cent, dealers said.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 plunged 206.9 points to 4,600.5, while the broader All Ordinaries fell 207.9 points to 4,631.3.

A total of 1.33 billion shares worth 5.9 billion Australian dollars (4.7 billion US) changed hands, with 227 stocks up, 963 down and 239 unchanged.

Westpac lost 7.21 per cent to 21.48 and Commonwealth was down 2.85 per cent at 42.62.BHP Billiton shed 9.46 per cent to 31.00 and Rio Tinto dropped 11.52 per cent to 84.50.

SINGAPORE: Shares closed steady, recovering from sharp intraday losses, dealers said.

The blue-chip Straits Times Index fell 2.43 points or 0.1 per cent to 2,358.91 after falling 4.70 per cent in early trade.

Volume totalled 1.43 billion shares worth 2.04 billion Singapore dollars (1.44 billion US) and there were 227 rising issues, 290 losers while 844 issues were even.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices recovered to close 0.1 per cent lower, dealers said.The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index dropped 1.04 points to close at 1,018.68.

The index had opened 2.4 per cent lower.

The Malaysian bourse will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday for the Eid-ul-Fitr festival. It will resume trading Friday.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices dived 3.08 per cent, dealers said.

Local shares fell as much as 4.65 per cent in early trading but regained some ground later in the day in fairly light volumes.

The benchmark NZX-50 index fell 98.32 points to close at 3,090.22.

MUMBAI: Indian shares rose on bargain hunting in late afternoon trade after slipping more than 3.5 per cent in early dealings, dealers said.

The BSE benchmark 30-share Sensex index was up 337.15 points or 2.68 per cent at 12,932.29, from a day’s low of 12,153.55.—AFP