Main points:
October retail sales growth (in value terms) was -2.9% yoy, less negative than -4.0%yoy in September. On a month-over-month basis after seasonal adjustment, value ofretail sales expanded around 1% in October, vs +4.3% in September. According tothe government, during the first week of October (i.e. the golden week national dayholiday for mainland China), the number of mainland visitors increased 7% yoy,although for the full month of October, mainland tourist arrivals were still down 3.5%yoy. Among major categories under retail sales, jewelry, watches and clockscontributed the most to the less negative headline retail sales year-over-year growth.Sales of jewelry, watches and clocks recovered from -12.3% yoy in September to -0.1% yoy in October. Other categories showing improvements in year-over-yeargrowth include supermarkets, department stores and food/alcoholic drinks andtobacco.
In volume terms, retail sales growth also turned less negative - Year-over-year growthwas -2.7% in October, vs -3.8% in September. Similar to retail sales value, thejewelry, watches and clocks category showed the biggest improvement in year-overyearterms, followed by sales in supermarkets, food/alcoholic drinks and departmentstores.