Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here to receive it every Wednesday. Cash flowed, but confidence trickled on Day 1 of Art Basel Hong Kong, where a cross-section of the 240 galleries offered a spectrum of responses to one simple question: How are sales?  At Hauser & Wirth, Marc Payot, presiding over a packed booth, described a “phenomenal” start, citing attendance from serious collectors across Asia. By 5 p.m., several key works had sold. Louise Bourgeois’s 2002 sculpture Couple, a tender late-career figurine, fetched $2.2 million, and her 2008 etching and mixed media on paper piece, À Baudelaire (#1), went for $2.95 million. Prismatic Head (2021), a painting by George Condo, who recently left the gallery, went for $2.3 million.    Related Articles According to Payot, the booth’s two priciest offerings also moved: the 1956 Alexander Calder mobile Horizontal and Pablo Picasso’s 1965 Chat et crabe sur la plage (Cat and Crab on the Beach). The gallery did not state a price for either work. Meanwhile, Lee Bul, the subject of a stellar survey at M+, has entered another private museum in Asia with Untitled (“Infinity” wall), which sold for $275,000.  “What we have done differently this year is this mix of historical material with contemporary program, so a Calder paired with an Avery Singer; a Picasso with Roni Horn,” Payot said. “We try …