HONG KONG - Hong Kong's economy stagnated in the first quarter as the highly trade-dependent Asian financial centre was held back by an unsteady global economy. Economic data released Friday showed that the southern Chinese city's economy grew a meagre 0.2 per cent in the first three months of the year when compared with the previous quarter. On a year-on-year basis, GDP grew 2.8 per cent, unchanged from the previous period. The government said exports grew 8.8 per cent. Export numbers also held up thanks to "solid growth" in mainland China and other Asian markets.

Hong Kong's economy saw modest year-on-year growth in the first quarter, with strong demand from mainland China offsetting a weak environment in the West, officials said Friday. Gross domestic product grew by 2.8 percent in the first three months of 2013, compared to the same period last year, a government statement said. Hong Kong registered the same growth rate in the previous quarter.

Hundreds of workers at a Hong Kong container port operated by tycoon Li Ka-shing voted Monday to end a 40-day strike, one of the city's longest-ever, after their employers offered a 9.8 percent pay rise. The stoppage had disrupted traffic at Hong Kong's container port, the world's third busiest. Protests spread to the Central financial district, where workers staged demonstrations outside the headquarters of Li's Cheung Kong group. The strikers, who at the height of the stoppage numbered 450, had been demanding a 20 percent pay rise.

Hong Kong lawmakers on Wednesday protested against a government plan to donate $13 million to a Chinese earthquake disaster fund, claiming the money would go into the pockets of corrupt officials. The 6.6-magnitude quake which hit Sichuan province Saturday has left at least 193 dead and more than 12,000 injured, and has also forced the evacuation of some 245,000 people. But many Hong Kongers object to leader Leung Chun-ying's plan for the city government to donate HK$100 million ($13 million) to a Sichuan provincial government disaster fund.