HONG KONG, Feb 15 (AFP) -- Hong Kong's luck will improve in the Year of the Tiger according to the results of an annual Lunar New Year fortune-telling ceremony held on Monday.

In a closely watched ritual, lawmaker Lau Wong-fat shook a bundle of numbered bamboo fortune sticks until one fell to the ground, number 53, which was later interpreted by a stick-reader to be the harbinger of better times.

The draw was good news for Lau whose unlucky pick of 27 in 2009 -- the Year of the Ox -- predicted doom and gloom for the city of seven million as it was wracked by the global financial crisis.

The ritual, carried out on the second day of Chinese New Year at a suburban temple, is seen by many as an indicator of what the coming year has in store for the financial hub.

In 2003, home affairs minister Patrick Ho picked number 83, an unlucky number according to Chinese custom.

His selection was followed by 12 months of crisis in which the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus killed several hundred people and ruined the economy, while unprecedented political protests left the government in turmoil.