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A review will be conducted in due course to consider an appropriate levy after 12 months.
"The levy holiday will facilitate the development of the stock options market in the initial stage. Similar arrangements have applied to other new products launched on the Hong Kong Futures Exchange in recent years," Mr Cartland said. The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong currently plans to commence trading in stock options in August.
End/Tuesday, July 25, 1995
Provisional statistics of retail sales for May 1995 released
The value of total retail sales in May 1995, estimated at $17.1 billion, increased by 4% when compared with May 1994, according to provisional figures released today (Tuesday) by the Census and Statistics Department
After discounting the effect of price changes over the period, total retail sales dropped by 2% in volume.
Total retail sales in May 1995 was 7% higher in both value and volume than in April 1995. It should be borne in mind that this comparison may be affected by seasonal factors.
The year-on-year decline in total retail sales volume in May 1995 was mainly attributable to a setback in sales of motor vehicles, which dropped by 33% in value and by 39% in volume. Sales of jewellery, watches and clocks and valuable gifts and consumer durable goods (other than motor vehicles) also dropped by 2% and 1% in value respectively. In terms of volume, they both decreased by 5%.
Meanwhile, sales in supermarkets increased by 7% in value but had virtually no change in volume. In addition, sales in department stores went up by 3% in value, but decreased by 4% in volume.
Nevertheless, there were still increases in sales of a number of commodities. They included clothing and footwear (14% in value, 5% in volume); fuels (11% in value, 3% in volume); and food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco (9% in value and 1% in volume).
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