Hong Kong  - Hong Kong shares shot up by more than 5 per cent to break through the 15,000 point barrier in early trading Monday.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose by 762.86 points, or 5.36 per cent, to 15,006.29 in the first 45 minutes of trading of the week.

The early gains consolidated a 3 per cent rise in share prices Friday in response to a cut in local interest rates aimed at freeing up capital.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares regained some lost ground Friday as an unexpected cut in local interest rates saw them end the week with a climb of more than 3 per cent.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index gained 453.39 points or 3.29 per cent to end the week on 14,243.43 points, despite falling more than 5 per cent in morning trading. Turnover was 48.8 billion Hong Kong dollars (6.29 billion US dollars).

Hong Kong  - Letters calling for higher pay signed by 19,000 Hong Kong police officers, more than two thirds of the city's force, were Thursday handed to a government advisory body.

The letter campaign is the biggest in the force's history and follows a long fight for better pay rates by associations representing rank and file officers in the former British colony.

Staff associations are calling for new pay scales that would add an average of 230 US dollars a month to the pay packets of the city's 27,000-strong police force.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares plunged more than 7 per cent Thursday as delight over the US presidential election result turned to gloom over signs of a deepening global recession.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index lost 1,050.12 points, or 7.08 per cent, to close at 13,790.04. Turnover was 48.25 billion Hong Kong dollars (6.22 billion US dollars).

The losses came 24 hours after the index surged by more than 3 per cent Wednesday afternoon on news of Barack Obama's win.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong's population crisis is likely to worsen as a survey showed Thursday that nearly four in 10 women want only one child or no children at all.

The study by the Hong Kong Family Planning Association found a growing trend toward childlessness in the wealthy city, which already has one of the world's lowest birth rates.

Twenty-six per cent of 1,500 women interviewed said they wanted only one child compared with 10 per cent in 1992, and 13 per cent said they wanted no children, compared with 5 per cent in 1992.