Press Digest: Hong Kong - Nov 27

Stelux Holdings International

27/11/2015 01:56

Nov 27 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in 
Hong Kong newspapers on Friday. Reuters has not verified these 
stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.   
         
    SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST  
    - One of the strongest El Ninos and the onslaught of global 
warming have put Hong Kong on course for its hottest year on 
record. The summer has already been the hottest since the 
Observatory began records in 1884 with mean temperatures for 
January-October at 24.7 Celsius degrees. Observatory director 
Shun Chi-ming said this year may very likely be the warmest 
since historical records began. (http://bit.ly/1LCwu7n) 
    - The arms race between China's big three Internet companies 
is heating up in financial services as online search giant Baidu 
 BIDU.O , global insurer Allianz and Asian investor Hillhouse 
Capital Group form a digital insurance company on the mainland. 
This new venture, called Bai An, hopes to expand the domestic 
market for digital insurance products. (http://bit.ly/1Oji2Yv) 
    - Dollar strength and high rents are killing the retail 
business in Hong Kong, the latest half-year result reports of 
two pillar businesses of the Hong Kong retail sector showed. 
Sincere Co Ltd  0244.HK , the operator of Hong Kong's oldest 
department store Sincere, posted a biggest first-half loss of 
HK$93 million ($12 million), while jeweller Luk Fook's  0590.HK  
profit dived 42.6 percent year on year. (http://bit.ly/1MUjvQl) 
     
    THE STANDARD 
    - Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief Norman Chan Tak-lam 
said the shrinking rate of the yuan capital pool in Hong Kong 
has slowed. He said recently there has been a decline in 
liquidity of offshore yuan, mainly due to the supply and demand 
imbalance, but the interbank interest rate remained largely 
stable. (http://bit.ly/1PReiyL) 
    - Two residential buildings in North Point in Hong Kong were 
withdrawn from an auction for redevelopment on Thursday, as no 
developers have offered bids amid lacklustre sentiment in the 
local property market. The Urban Renewal Authority has assisted 
owners of the two 50-year-old buildings to launch a joint sale. 
(http://bit.ly/1QK8maS) 
  
    - Lawmakers are demanding the government explain whether a 
shock one-year delay in the construction of the local portion of 
the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge will further bloat the costs 
of the mega project. The Highways Department said the delay was 
due to unstable supply of materials, restrictions in airport 
height, shortage of labour, and constraints in environmental 
protection requirements. (http://bit.ly/1XuhorI) 
         
    HONG KONG ECONOMIC JOURNAL  
    - Watch retailer Stelux Holdings International Ltd  0084.HK  
posted a loss of HK$33.08 million in the first half, compared 
with a profit a year earlier, on fewer shop visitors in Hong 
Kong and Macau in weak consumer sentiment. Chief executive 
Joseph Wong said he was not optimistic on the performance in 
Christmas while the company will focus on developing China 
market next year.   
     
    HONG KONG ECONOMIC TIMES 
    - Hong Kong Trade Development Council has revised down 
forecast for the city's exports to "negative growth" from "zero 
growth" as November and December exports may continue to decline 
amid the shaking consumer confidence in the United States and 
Europe, according to the Council's principal economist Daniel 
Poon Wing-choi. 
 
    For Chinese newspapers, see............... PRESS/CN   
 
 
($1 = 7.7502 Hong Kong dollar) 
 
 (Compiled by Donny Kwok in Hong Kong; Editing by Anand Basu) 
 ((donny.kwok@thomsonreuters.com)(+852 2843 6470)(Reuters 
Messaging: donny.kwok.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: PRESS DIGEST HONGKONG/