Asia-Pacific shares fell on Friday but a rise in car makers and technology stocks offset losses from a big fall on Wall Street overnight.

There was no sign of an Olympic rally in China on the day the Beijing Games were due to start – mainland shares made their worst close this year on worries about terrorist attacks disrupting events. The Shanghai composite has halved in value so far this year and plunged 57.5 per cent since its peak in October 2007 to close at 2,605.72.