HK retail sales value up 10.5 pct in Jan

Hong Kong's total retail sales value in January, provisionally estimated at 47.7 billion HK dollars (about 6.15 billion U.S. dollars), rose 10.5 percent over a year earlier, the city's Census & Statistics Department announced Monday.

After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the total retail sales volume rose 10.4 percent over a year ago.

The revised estimate of total retail sales value in December 2012, at 47 billion HK dollars, rose 9.1 percent year-on-year, while the total retail sales volume grew 8.5 percent.

The department said looking ahead, the broadly stable labor market conditions and further growth in inbound tourism should remain supportive to the retail business in the near term. (1 U.S. dollar equals 7.757 HK dollars)