US stock markets will stay shuttered for a third day Thursday, but world financial markets as a whole have shown relative stability in spite of the physical devastation in New York's financial district, said reports.
Trading of US Treasury and other government securities will resume Thursday, two days after terrorist attacks destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.
The Chicago Board of Trade said it will reopen pit and electronic trading on Thursday for all products except equity index contracts, CNN said.
Stock markets in Canada and Argentina will also reopen.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 average see-sawed between slight losses and gains in early trading, after the previous day's near-7 percent plunge. European markets had closed higher Wednesday, regaining some of the ground lost on Tuesday.
Officials from the major US stock markets and the government said equity trading could resume as early as Friday and as late as Monday, as they tried to balance concerns over public safety and market liquidity against the need to shore up investor confidence.
"Let us not forget the great tragedy that has befallen this nation," Richard Grasso, chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, told a Manhattan press conference.
Grasso also talked about "restoring the public confidence that this marketplace will be up and functioning."
According to the network, the resumption of trading is both practical and symbolic.
In crashing into the World Trade Center, the hijacked planes destroyed the highest point in New York's financial district and an icon of Wall Street.
Even as the death toll grows, many in the financial community wanted to return to work as a signal that terrorism has not deterred business.
That will happen "by Friday and no later than Monday," Nasdaq's Simmons said.
In spite of the attack, which completely destroyed New York's World Trade Center, most of the world markets were remarkably stable Wednesday.
Europe holds firm
While rescue teams continued to pour over the debris in lower Manhattan Wednesday, the shocked world markets began to recover, CNN and BBC.online reported.
But the European markets, which sank late Tuesday after the attack, closed higher Wednesday.
At the same time, the dollar rose against other major currencies as markets calmed following the attacks.
Oil and gold prices declined in European trading Wednesday after spiking Tuesday, said CNN.
The wealthy Group of Seven nations vowed not to let Tuesday's attacks de-stabilize the global economy.
The United States and its allies have pledged that their central banks will coordinate efforts to assure sufficient money is supplied to major banks to prevent disruptions.
The Federal Reserve Wednesday requested that central banks overseas limit the trading of dollars as Chairman Alan Greenspan returned to the United States to help the central bank deal with money supply issues.
Meanwhile, OPEC quickly reassured the public that world oil supplies are secure amid concerns of an anticipated US retaliation in the Middle East, AFP said.
Rumors of gas shortages pushed prices as high as $5 a gallon in some parts of the United States, even as industry representatives assured the marketplace that the country has plenty of fuel on hand.
In the meantime, insurance claims from the World Trade Center attack are likely to soar into the billions, easily surpassing the $775 million racked up during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which until Tuesday was the most costly event not associated with a natural disaster.
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