NASDAQ put up a huge celebration massage on its marketsite tower at the busy Time Square on Friday morning as the 2008 Summer Olympics kicked off in Beijing. [Photo:sinovision.net]

NASDAQ put up a huge celebration massage on its marketsite tower at the busy Time Square on Friday morning as the 2008 Summer Olympics kicked off in Beijing.

The message reading "NASDAQ OMX celebrates the inauguration of the Olympic Games in Beijing, China," appeared on the high-tech electronic display wrapping around the cylindrical NASDAQ building in central New York, as the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics began in the Chinese capital.

"This is a very important day I think for all of us," NASDAQ OMX Group President Magnus Bocker said. "For everybody who is interested in sports, it is a very important day."

"I just want to say that I wish China, and all the Chinese people, all the best for the Olympic Games," he said.

Bocker, an enthusiastic runner, said he would be closely following all the tracks and fields during the Olympics.