Feb 21 (Reuters) – Canadian retail sales rose by 0.5% in December from November at C$62.12 billion ($46.19 billion), on higher sales at motor vehicles and parts dealers, as well as general merchandise stores, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday. Sales were seen to rise by 0.7% in January, the agency said in a flash estimate.
Sales increased in seven of 11 subsectors, representing 75.1% of retail trade. In volume terms, retail sales grew 1.3%.
(Percent changes) Dec Dec Nov(rev) Nov(prev)
mo/mo yr/yr mo/mo mo/mo
Total +0.5 +7.3 -0.0 -0.1
Excluding autos/parts -0.6 +9.0 -0.5 -0.6
NOTE: Analysts surveyed by Reuters forecast an increase of 0.5% in December retail sales. Figures are seasonally adjusted except those for e-commerce data.
($1=$1.3449 Canadian)
(Reporting by Dale Smith; editing by Ismail Shakil) (([email protected]; )