Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares slumped by more than 4 per cent Monday as the bailout deal for the US economy failed to excite officials in the former British colony.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index shed 801.41 points, or 4.29 per cent, to close at 17,880.68 points. Turnover was a weak 54.96 billion Hong Kong dollars (7.07 billion US dollars).

The price falls mirrored regional losses and were led by property stocks which tumbled on worries over the housing market and an increase in mortgage rates by HSBC.

Earlier in the day, Hong Kong government officials gave a muted welcome to the 700 billion US dollar deal agreed in Washington early Monday Hong Kong time.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong officials Monday welcomed the bailout deal for the US economy but questioned whether the 700 billion US dollars in the package will be enough to revive global money markets.

Hong Kong's financial secretary John Tsang said he hoped the rescue package could be implemented quickly so that it would stabilize not only the US economy but the global financial system.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief executive Joseph Yam said the plan would reduce the danger of further failures of financial institutions in the US.

Hong Kong - Nearly half of Hong Kong women gamble regularly and 2 per cent of them are pathological gamblers, according to a survey released Monday.

Interviews with almost 1,500 women and teenage girls found that 48 per cent admitted to gambling regularly, compared to 35 per cent three years ago.

Playing the Chinese board game mahjong, card games and lotteries are the most popular form of gambling for women, researchers at a rehabilitation centre for problem gamblers found.

Hong Kong - The typhoon that raged past Hong Kong last week was so powerful it spun a stationary jumbo jet around, officials at the city's international airport said Sunday.

The Boeing Classic 747-200 cargo plane was rotated a full 90 degrees by the wind during the height of Typhoon Hagupit's Hong Kong landfall early last Wednesday.

The Ocean Airlines jet, now the property of a financier, has been left on a parking bay near the control tower of Hong Kong's airport since July 2007, shortly before the Italy-based airline went under.

Hong Kong - Banking giant HSBC said Friday it will cut 100 jobs in Hong Kong as it slashes its global workforce by 1,100 in response to the worldwide economic crisis.

Hong Kong - Panic died down Thursday among customers of Hong Kong's Bank of East Asia who a day earlier had rushed to withdraw their savings amid rumours the bank was facing collapse.

Long queues of hundreds of customers died away Thursday morning after Hong Kong's chief executive, the head of its central bank and the bank's chairman all insisted the institution was not in difficulty.

Text messages widely circulated from Monday said the bank was on the brink of collapse, sparking a rush to withdraw funds from the bank's 130 branches in Hong Kong.