Bank shares are leading the Australian market lower after bad news in the US financial sector on Friday renewed fears of a further credit crunch.

Asian stocks rose, sending the region's benchmark to its biggest advance in three weeks. The yen traded near a one-month low against the dollar and dropped against South Africa 's rand.

Chinese shares surged sharply on Monday by 8.13 percent following rallies in neighboring markets and news of improving weather in the country's snow-hit regions.

Chinese currency rallied as a slide in regional stock markets heightened risk aversion and crimped demand for higher-yielding currencies and assets.

Asian markets fell sharply Monday, on fears a recession in the United States will weaken the demand for Asian exports.

The Australian share market has clawed-back all of this week's losses to end the session 5 per cent higher, following strong economic news out of Asia and gains in New York overnight.

United States President George W Bush has urged Congress to approve "as soon as possible" an economic stimulus plan, after his administration and the House of Representatives announced a deal on the package overnight.

It was a substantially less volatile night on the United States equity markets, and a mostly positive one.

It is been another testing night on global share markets, as investors worry about an economic slowdown.

The turnaround on the markets today started off as dramatically positive as yesterday's losses were negative.

Asian stocks recouped some of their steep losses of the past two days after market confidence received a shot in the arm from the U.S. Federal Reserve. But as VOA's Heda Bayron reports from Hong Kong, stock analysts say the markets may remain volatile despite Tuesday's U.S. interest-rate cut.

The Australian share market is in a tailspin amid fears that Asia has been caught up in the United States economy's slowdown.