The pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong is expected to result to a drop in October retail sales with three analysts predicted falls of 0.3%, 0.5% and 4.4% from a year earlier.
The official retails sales figure was set to be announced by Hong Kong today but one analyst, Lily Lo of DBS Bank, said the retail sales data should be most serious in the first two weeks of October due to the pro-democracy protests.
Lo predicts a fall of 0.3%. An analyst from Citi, however, predicted a 1.2% increase, Reuters reported.
Most Hong Kong-listed retailers said the civil unrest has resulted to the deterioration of the city’s retail market. Hong Kong’s retail sales increased 4.8% in September. – BusinessNewsAsia.com