Hong Kong - Phone users in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are Asia's most enthusiastic senders of text messages, according to a survey released Thursday.

More than 97 per cent of mobile phone users in Singapore have sent text messages in the past month, followed by 96 per cent of people in Kuala Lumpur and 94 per cent of people in Seoul, the survey found.

More than 87 per cent of people in Melbourne and Sydney said they had sent texts in the past month while the region's lowest rate of text messaging were recorded by Hong Kong (85 per cent) and Bangkok (69 per cent).

The survey was conducted by the market research company Synovate, which studied the habits of more than 5,000 mobile phone users in seven Asian-Pacific markets.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares fell by almost 5 per cent Wednesday as a rebound triggered by optimism over the global bank bail-outs began to fizzle out.

The Hang Seng Index lost 834.58 points, or 4.96 per cent, to end the day back below the 16,000 barrier at 15,998.3. Turnover was 52 billion Hong Kong dollars (6.7 billion US dollars).

The heavy losses ended two consecutive days of gains on the blue-chip index which rallied by 3 per cent Tuesday and more than 10 per cent Monday.

Analysts warned ahead of Wednesday's losses that the apparently bright start to the week amounted to a technical rebound only and that a prolonged rally was unlikely.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang had bananas hurled at him as he delivered a policy speech Wednesday in a protest over the government's treatment of poor elderly people.

Three legislators with the pro-democracy League of Social Democrats were ejected from the city's Legislative Council as they shouted abuse and threw bananas during Tsang's annual policy address.

None of the bananas hit the chief executive, who looked stunned at the protest over the government's alleged lack of support for elderly people struggling to cope with rising food prices.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares fell by almost 5 per cent Wednesday as a rebound triggered by optimism over the global bank bail-outs began to fizzle out.

The Hang Seng Index lost 834.58 points, or 4.96 per cent, to end the day back below the 16,000 barrier at 15,998.3. Turnover was 52 billion Hong Kong dollars (6.7 billion US dollars).

The heavy losses ended two consecutive days of gains on the blue-chip index which rallied by 3 per cent Tuesday and more than 10 per cent Monday.

Analysts warned ahead of Wednesday's losses that the apparently bright start to the week amounted to a technical rebound only and that a prolonged rally was unlikely.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong's leader Wednesday announced the setting up of a task force to monitor the impact of the global economic crisis and find ways to tackle it.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang said the body, which he will chair, will comprise top government officials along with financial experts, economists and representatives of major industries.