IN the face of verbal attacks from Beijing, retail sales rose 14 per cent to $13.3 billion in November last year from the same month in 1991.
However, volume rose only nine per cent, continuing a declining trend after gains of 15 per cent in October, 18 per cent in September and 19 per cent in August.
Department stores and supermarkets both saw sales fall one per cent in volume terms, although there was a seven per cent rise in value.
Foodstuffs, labouring under the low-inflation environment, rose two per cent in value but fell one per cent in volume.
Nomura Research Institute financial analyst Joseph Jacobelli said the government figures, released yesterday, underlined a downward trend which would intensify over the key Christmas to Lunar New Year period that coincided with Beijing's blitz of threatsand words on the territory.
He said: ''November is really part of the crunch, because the Beijing attack started to intensify around the latter weeks.
