The New Zealand stock market opened higher on Friday morning, recouping about half of the losses incurred the day before.
At midday, the NZX50 index was up 68 points, or 2.5% to 2832 on turnover of $32 million.
On Thursday, the index closed down 139 points, or 5%, to 2764 on turnover of $93 million.
At 8.15am on Friday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at US61.45 cents, 89.63 Australian cents, 35.46 pence, 62.19 yen and 0.4566 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was 60.92.
The Australian share market also rose 3% on Friday morning.
At 1015 AEDT, the S&P/ASX200 was up 123.8 points, or 3.08%, at 4137.2, while the All Ordinaries gained 120.5 points, or 3.02%, to 4108.6.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index futures contract was up 149 points 4176, on a volume of 10,400 contracts.
Wall Street rally
A late rally lifted stocks on Wall Street on Thursday. Investors snapped up beaten-down shares, causing the market to rebound.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 401.35 points, or 4.68%, to 8,979.26.
Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 38.53 points, or 4.24%, to 946.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 89.38 points, or 5.49%, at 1,717.71.
Trading was moderate on the New York Stock Exchange: about 1.99 billion shares changed hands - above last year's estimated daily average of roughly 1.9 billion.
About 3.34 billion shares were traded on the Nasdaq - well above last year's daily average of 2.17 billion.
European shares plunge
European stocks ended steeply lower on Thursday.
The Dow Jones industrial average also sank deeply in early trading on news of a sharp plunge in September industrial orders in the United States - strengthening prospects for a recession.
However, the index rose sharply in late trade.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares unofficially ended down 5.5 percent at 853.81 points.
Across Europe: in Paris, the CAC 40 lost 5.92% to finish at 3,181. The Frankfurt Dax closed down 4.91% at 4,622.81.
Amsterdam was down 5.69%, Brussels by 6.54%, the Swiss Market Index by 3.26%, Madrid by 4.11% and Milan by 6.78%.
Both of Russia's main stock markets dropped more than 9%.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 index fell 5.35% to close at 3,861.39 points.
Crude oil fell 7.5% below $US70 a barrel.
