Hong Kong's retail sales increased 26 per cent year on year to an estimated HK$31.2 billion in March, reflecting robust consumer demand and tourist spending, the Census and Statistics Department said yesterday. First-quarter sales rose 21 per cent in value and 16.3 per cent in volume compared with the same period last year. The sales volume of miscellaneous consumer durable goods went up the most in March, by 85.9 per cent year on year. Jewellery, watches and clocks and valuable gifts recorded the second-highest growth, of 42.3 per cent.