HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's composite interest rate dropped by four basis points from 0.49 percent at the end of January to 0.45 percent at the end of February, the city's Monetary Authority said on Monday.

The fall mainly reflected a decrease in the weighted funding cost for deposits during the month, according to the authority.

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 banks' books.

Data from retail banks, which account for about 90 percent of the total customer deposits in the banking sector, are used in the calculation.