HONG Kong's retail sales have grown by the least since April 2007 as tumbling stocks, a weakening real-estate market and the financial crisis discouraged spending.

By value, retail sales rose 6.9 percent in September from a year earlier to HK$20.9 billion (US$2.7 billion), the government said yesterday on its Website, after gaining a revised 10.2 percent in August. That compared with the 8.5 percent median estimate of 11 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The key Hang Seng Index of shares has fallen 48 percent in 2008 as a world slowdown threatens exports, profits and jobs. Sales of new apartments may drop this year to the lowest since records started in 1996, according to Centaline Property Agency Ltd.