Hong Kong's economy saw modest year-on-year growth in the first quarter, with strong demand from mainland China offsetting weakness in the West, officials said Friday.

A red bowl with a lotus pattern broke the world record for Chinese Kangxi ceramics on Monday, fetching over US$9 million after a bidding war won by a Hong Kong ceramics dealer at the last day of spring sales for global auctioneer Sotheby's.

Hong Kong shares slumped more than 2 percent to a new low for 2013 on Friday as investors fretted over bird flu in China, with Chinese airline stocks tumbling by as much as 12 percent.

Hopes that Hong Kong's 2017 election will be genuinely democratic have been dashed after a senior Chinese leader said, regardless of the vote, Beijing will have the final say on who is appointed Hong Kong's next leader.

Hong Kong's finance chief Wednesday unveiled a budget to kick-start growth in the city and temper property prices but warned the world economy could face headwinds from possible trade and currency battles.

A Hong Kong activist who posted an identity card database online in protest at a proposed law that would restrict access to information on company directors has removed the file from his website.

As the Year of the Snake approaches, investors should take comfort that the reptile's traditionally negative effect on stock markets probably won't be so big this year, according to the astrological predictions of a Hong Kong brokerage.

Growth in East Asia's developing economies will pick up next year after China's slowdown hits bottom but considerable risks remain, including the possibility of a sharp drop in investment growth in the world's second-biggest economy, the World Bank said Wednesday.

About a thousand migrant domestic workers from Southeast Asia rallied in Hong Kong Sunday to mark International Migrants Day and push for better working conditions and higher wages.

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday warned that Hong Kong could see an abrupt fall in property prices after years of dramatic increases in one of the world's most expensive housing markets.