Asian markets have continued to react to a day of sharp drops in global markets, with Japan's Nikkei index down more than 4% after morning trading.
Stock markets in Asia have seen mixed trading with South Korea's Kospi index up following an interest rate cut but Japan's Nikkei index falling.
Meanwhile South Korea's central bank has cut its interest rate to 4%, the third cut in a month.
South Korea's central bank cut rates to 4%, the third cut in a month, helping the Kospi index to end up 3.9%.
EU leaders are set to gather in Brussels for an informal meeting to discuss the global economic crisis.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1.3%, but in Tokyo the Nikkei closed down 3.6%, although it had been down 7% earlier.
The International Monetary Fund has predicted that developed economies will shrink for the whole of next year.
Toyota shares fell 9.2% as investors reacted to Thursday's news that the firm was cutting its profit forecasts.
In early trading on Friday, the Nikkei index fell more than 7%, but later rebounded and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 2.2% by mid-morning.
Rebound
The falls came a day after sharp falls in Western markets.
On Thursday, global shares saw sharp falls, despite big interest rate cuts by both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.
The Dow Jones plummeted 443.2 points on Thursday, or 4.9%, nearly matching Wednesday's 486-point slide.
The UK's FTSE 100 index ended the day down 5.7%, and on Wall Street the Dow Jones index sank 443.2 points, or 4.9%, nearly matching Wednesday's 486-point slide.
In Europe, London's FTSE 100 closed down 5.7%, Frankfurt's Dax dropped 6.8% and the Cac 40 in Paris fell 6.4%.
On Thursday. the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its growth forecasts for the global economy.
'More needed'
It predicted that developed economies as a whole would shrink by 0.3% next year, having forecast growth of 0.5% less than a month ago.
The drops came despite cuts in interest rates by many central banks, in an attempt to boost consumer spending and business activity and avoid a prolonged slowdown.
The IMF also cut its 2009 growth forecast for the global economy to 2.2% from the previous estimate of 3%.
In a shock move, UK interest rates were cut 1.5% on Thursday, taking them to 3%, the lowest level since 1955, and the European Central Bank cut its key rate by half a percentage point to 3.25%.
The IMF has welcomed rate cuts but said more needed to be done.
Figures released on Wednesday showed retail sales fell in the eurozone during September, while US figures indicated that the service sector had suffered a sharper-than-expected drop in activity during October.
On Thursday, both Toyota and Isuzu Motors slashed annual profit forecasts, providing a further reminder of the weakness of the global economy.
