Yen Connection Bruises Hong Kong Retailers as Stocks Plunge
- Japanese currency's strength drives up cost of imports to city
- Exchange rate adds to already gloomy retail demand: strategist
Pedestrians cross an intersection as rain falls over Hong Kong on July 25, 2013. Rain continued as a broad trough of low pressure brought unsettled weather to the northern part of the South China Sea and the coast of Guangdong, the Hong Kong weather observatory reported. AFP PHOTO / Dale de la Rey (Photo credit should read DALE de la REY/AFP/Getty Images)
Photographer: AFP/Getty ImagesTimes are tough for Hong Kong retailers. And even worse for those with links to Japan.
Shares of CEC International Holdings Ltd. which runs the 759 chain of stores, have tumbled 32 percent this year, compared with a 0.3 percent retreat in the MSCI Hong Kong Index. International Housewares Retail Co. and Aeon Stores Hong Kong Co. -- both of which sell Japanese products -- have dropped at least 7.9 percent.