Hong Kong Exports to remain in contractionary territory

Exports seen contracting by 1.9%YoY in August.

Hong Kong will announce its August external trade numbers on 27 September but Standard Chartered expects exports to have contracted 1.9% y/y, improving from the disappointing -5.1% in July.

"August would still be the 19th consecutive month of exports contraction, however, and consistent with the -2.1% average growth in May-July, confirming the still-weak recovery momentum," it said in a report.

Meanwhile, the research firm expects imports to have improved to -0.9% y/y from -3.3% prior.

"The recent rally in local asset prices was likely not enough to lift otherwise still-weak domestic demand. Any further improvement in imports from here would, therefore, be modest at best," it explained.