HK's composite interest rate rises

Hong Kong's composite interest rate rose by seven basis points to 0.43 percent at the end of October, from 0.36 percent at the end of September, the city's Monetary Authority said Thursday. The rise in the composite interest rate reflected increases in the weighted funding cost for both deposits and interbank funds during the month. The composite interest rate is a weighted average interest rate of all Hong Kong dollar interest bearing liabilities, which include deposits from customers, amounts due to banks, negotiable certificates of deposit and other debt instruments, and Hong Kong dollar non-interest bearing demand deposits on the books of banks. Data from retail banks, which account for about 90 percent of the total customers' deposits in the banking sector, are used in the calculation.