March 21 (Reuters) – Canadian retail sales fell by 0.6% in January from December at C$69.36 billion ($48.42 billion), as lower sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers were not offset by higher sales at gasoline and fuel vendors, Statistics Canada said on Friday. Sales likely declined 0.4% in February, the agency said in a flash estimate.
In January, sales were down in three of nine subsectors, representing 51.9% of retail trade. In volume terms, retail sales dropped by 1.1%.
(Percent changes) Jan Jan Dec(rev) Dec(prev)
mo/mo yr/yr mo/mo mo/mo
Total -0.6 +4.2 +2.6 +2.5
Excluding autos/parts +0.2 +2.8 +2.9 +2.7
NOTE: All figures are seasonally adjusted. Analysts surveyed by Reuters forecast January sales would decrease by 0.4%, and be down 0.2% excluding autos and parts.
($1=$1.4324 Canadian)
(Reporting by Dale Smith)
Keywords: CANADA ECONOMY/RETAIL
