Hong Kong’s jewellery retail sales climb 27.1% in July

Sales of jewellery, watches, clocks and valuable gifts, which before the pandemic relied heavily on Chinese tourists from the mainland, climbed 27.1% in July versus a revised 31.9% surge in June, according to a report in Reuters.
However, Hong Kong's retail sales climbed for the sixth straight month in July, helped by a stabilising COVID-19 situation and an improved labour market along with an economic recovery. Retail sales in July rose 2.9% from a year earlier to $3.50 bn compared with 5.8% growth in June, as per government data. 
In volume terms, retail sales in July grew 0.9% from a year earlier, compared with a revised 2.9% surge over the previous month. For the first seven months of 2021, total retail sales increased 7.6% in value terms and rose 6.2% in volume. Online retail sales in July jumped 29.0% in value year-on-year, compared with revised growth of 64.0% in June.
Hong Kong's economy grew a revised 7.6% in the second quarter from a COVID-induced slump a year earlier and the government upgraded its growth forecast for 2021 to 5.5%-6.5% from 3.5%-5.5%.

Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished