Hong Kong's Consumer Price Index (CPI) in July fell to 3.3 percent year on year from 3.4 percent in June, mainly due to the smaller increases in private housing rentals and the charges for package tours, the city's statistics department said here on Thursday.

On the other hand, the Composite CPI in July rose 4.0 percent from a year ago, compare with the 3.6 percent in June as some households had used up the full amount of the government's one-off electricity charge subsidy.

Amongst the various CPI components in July, prices for electricity, gas and water rose 30.1 percent, followed by alcoholic drinks and tobacco 7.8 percent, housing 4.4 percent, food 3.6 percent and miscellaneous goods 2.9 percent.

Prices for durable goods fell 3.5 percent from a year earlier.

A government spokesman said underlying inflation continued an easing trend in July, largely thanks to the slower year-on-year increases in private housing rentals and the modest rises in import prices.

The spokesman expects the underlying inflation should remain contained for the rest of the year, given the generally modest local and external price pressures. Endi

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