Asian stocks hit a fresh 9-1/2-month low on Friday while spot gold slipped to its lowest price in nearly three years as the U.S. Federal Reserve's plan to scale back stimulus continued to worry investors.
But China's central bank offered some comfort to stressed money markets, relieving Thursday's crushing liquidity squeeze with "window guidance" to major state banks to resume supplying funds, after indicative interbank rates reached highs above 25 percent on Thursday.
The benchmark weighted-average seven-day bond repurchase rate tumbled 351 basis points to 8.12 percent, and the overnight repo rate fell 378 bps to 7.96 percent.
The two short-term rates hit record highs on Thursday as the central bank again ignored market pressure to inject funds into the market, a move traders and analysts see as an attempt to force banks and other financial institutions to trim non-essential businesses.
