The Singapore Exchange (SGX) will issue more information about shares that have been short-sold.

It has also unveiled hefty penalties, including minimum fines of $1,000, for contraventions of other aspects of the new rules.

Short-selling involves a trader selling a stock he does not own in the hope of buying it back later at a lower price - and hence at a profit. The practice, while legal, has not been widespread here but it has been blamed for causing devastation in other markets with short-sellers accused of cashing in on rumours.

Meanwhile the fast evolving financial crisis moved dramatically on two fronts in the US yesterday. In Washington, the Bush administration signalled its intention to widen the scope of the bailout plan of the financial system, a move that could increase the cost from US$700 billion (S$1 trillion) to an eye-watering US$1.8 trillion, the latest estimates said.

And on Wall Street, investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were granted approval to become bank holding companies regulated by the US Federal Reserve. The move will kill off the investment banking model that has ruled Wall Street for more than 20 years but it will enable both banks to take deposits, gain easier access to financing and gain more flexibility to buy retail banks.

They initiated the move after their shares plummeted following the failure of Lehman Brothers and the agreed takeover of Merrill Lynch last week.

Markets recovered sharply on Friday when the rescue plan was first mooted and continued gains yesterday. The Nikkei was up 1.4 per cent and Shanghai Composite rose 7.77 per cent but The Straits Times Index was 0.58 per cent weaker. Wall Street shed 192.03 points in early trade yesterday over uncertainty about the details.

The package - it was initially to involve buying the mortgage-related securities that have caused such devastation - could be widened to allow purchases of instruments such as car loans, credit-card debt and other devalued assets. It also includes allowing foreign banks to sell their US mortgage debt to the US Treasury, getting the same treatment as US banks.

Officials submitted the revised plan to Congress yesterday amid a growing chorus of criticism, with lawmakers and lobbyists already pushing their own agendas.

'The Treasury's thinking is to make it as big and wide as possible so they have the flexibility to act if need be,' said Mr Shane Oliver, Sydney-based head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors, which manages US$108 billion.

Treasury officials propose buying what they term troubled assets, without specifying the type. 'The costs of the bailout will be significantly higher than originally considered or acknowledged,' said Mr Josh Rosner, an analyst with New York research firm Graham Fisher & Co.

'How, given these changes, can the administration and Federal Reserve believe they are being forthright in their unrevised expectation of future losses?'

The changes came after weekend talks between administration officials and congressional staff in Washington.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers that a comprehensive approach was critical after a series of interventions failed to normalise markets.

Democrats want proper oversight built in and efforts to refinance mortgages for struggling homeowners while Republicans are urging limits on how any profits from the plan could be spent.

'Never before in the history of our nation has so much power and money been concentrated in the hands of one person. This arrangement makes me deeply uncomfortable,' said Republican presidential candidate John McCain, referring to Mr Paulson.

Wall Street veterans are also reeling from the moves by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to become bank holding companies. 'It's hard to say there are any illusions left' about the seriousness of the crisis, said Mr Jason Trennert, chief investment strategist at Strategas Research Partners in New York.

It also emerged last night that Japanese mega-bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group will buy between 10 and 20 per cent of Morgan Stanley's shares.

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG