The New Zealand stockmarket has regained about half of Thursday's losses.
At 12.30pm, the NZX50 was index up 68 points, or 2.5%, to 2833 on turnover of $34 million.
Telecom was up 9 cents to $2.32 though a shareholder questioned its latest profit downgrade and a decision to spend more on a new mobile network.
Contact Energy was up 16c to $7.29. Fletcher Building was up 24c to $6.10 after saying it cut 600 jobs in the last three months as a result of the slowdown in the economy.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances was up 3c at $1.38 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 8c at $2.95.
The Warehouse was up 23c to $3.80 after Woolworths said it does not believe there are any competition issues blocking a potential takeover of the retailer.
New Zealand Oil & Gas was down 2c to $1.10 as oil prices continue to fall as demand slides.
In currency markets: at 12.30pm on Friday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at US61.38 cents, 89.41 Australian cents, 35.37 pence, 62.19 yen and 0.4547 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 60.79.
Australia also up
The Australian share market rose 3% on opening following a volatile session on Wall Street.
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.
In the banking sector: National Australia Bank rose 65c, or 2.86%, to $A23.35; Commonwealth Bank added 60c, or 1.42%, to $A43.00 and ANZ Banking Group gained 54c, or 3.12%, to $A17.87.
Westpac rose 92c, or 4.18%, to $A22.92 and St George Bank lifted $A1.12, or 3.88%, to $A29.96.
Preliminary market turnover was 235.3 million shares, valued at $A859.55 million.
Japanese share prices rose 1.43% at their opening on Friday.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei-225 index climbed 121.12 points to 8,579.57, a day after plunging more than 11%.
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% 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.
