Hong Kong: Decline in retail sales softens in October
Latest reading: Retail sales dropped 4.9% year on year in October (September: -8.7% yoy). October’s print marked the best reading since February, but was still the eighth straight contraction. Sales continued to fall across a wide range of subsectors, weighed on by the still-incomplete recovery in tourist arrivals, the strong Hong Kong dollar, and the increasing number of Hong Kongers opting to shop on the mainland.
Meanwhile, the trend pointed down, with the annual average variation of retail sales coming in at minus 5.9%, down from September’s minus 5.3% reading.