Hong Kong's retail sales down 3.9 pct in December 2014

The value of total retail sales in December 2014 in Hong Kong fell 3.9 percent to 47.8 billion HK dollars (about 6.2 billion U.S. dollars) from a year ago, the city 's statistics department said here on Monday.

The sales of medicines and cosmetics rose 4.2 percent year-on- year in December, followed by food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco 7. 4 percent, miscellaneous consumer durable goods 18.6 percent and motor vehicles and parts 0.5 percent.

On the other hand, the sales of jewelry, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts decreased 16.3 percent, followed by wearing apparel 3.8 percent, commodities in department stores 5.3 percent, electrical goods and photographic equipment 4.4 percent and footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories 3.1 percent.

For 2014 as a whole, the value of total retail sales went down 0.2 percent to 493.3 billion HK dollars from a year earlier.

A government spokesman said retail sales reverted to a year-on- year decline in December 2014, dragged mainly by a wider fall in the sales of jewelry, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts, possibly reflecting the slackening in visitor spending.

The spokesman said the sales performance of many other items, including those related more to local consumption, was also lackluster and the fluctuations in retail sales in recent months suggest that consumption sentiment was still rather unsteady.

Looking ahead, the near-term performance of retail sales will still hinge on the labor market conditions and inbound tourism growth, the spokesman said. Endi