November retail sales surge 4.1%

The total value of retail sales in November was provisionally estimated at HK$41.3 billion - up 4.1 percent over a year ago - data from the Census and Statistics Department showed on Tuesday. For the first 11 months of this year, total retail sales rose by 0.2 percent in value compared with the same period a year earlier. Excluding the effect of price changes over the same period, the volume of total retail sales last month increased by 7.5 percent year-on-year. For the first 11 months, total retail sales surged by 0.8 percent in volume over the same period a year ago.

Rewrite plan for interests regime

The Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) proposed on Tuesday various potential improvements within the disclosure of interests regime. In a report, the FSDC said the complexity of Hong Kong's existing disclosure of interests regime rendered the disclosures actually made not as meaningful as originally intended, as the investing public might not have a thorough understanding of the disclosure rules and exemptions. The council suggested simplifying the approved lending agent regime and interests attribution of fund management entities, and decriminalizing breaches, except those with criminal intent. The council said the industry believed that a rewrite of the regime would be a welcome reform.

Yuan jumps as forex rules ease

The yuan rose by the most since May after the mainland relaxed rules on banks' foreign exchange holdings, allowing them to hold fewer dollars. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on Tuesday that banks' net currency positions will no longer be constrained by foreign-exchange loan-to-deposit ratios from Jan 1, and checks on their holdings will be scaled back from a daily to a weekly basis. The yuan on Tuesday strengthened 0.3 percent, the biggest one-day gain since May 6, to close at 6.2020 per dollar in Shanghai. In Hong Kong's offshore market, the Chinese currency climbed 0.2 percent to 6.2188 per US dollar.

Shares dragged by energy stocks

Hong Kong shares finished lower on Tuesday. The Hang Seng Index (HSI) fell 1.1 percent, to 23,501.1 points, posting its biggest single-day loss in two weeks. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slid 1.5 percent after surging 4 percent on Monday for the biggest gain in a year. Energy shares led declines, with China Oilfield Services Ltd sliding 4.4 percent. Oil traded near the lowest price in more than five years amid speculation that US crude inventories will stay at their highest level since June, offering no relief from a global glut.

China Daily - Bloomberg

(HK Edition 12/31/2014 page11)