OTTAWA, April 21 (Reuters) – Canadian retail sales fell 0.2% in February from January to C$66.34 ($49.05 billion), on lower sales at gasoline stations and general merchandise retailers, Statistics Canada said on Friday. Sales were seen to fall by 1.4% in March, the agency said in a flash estimate.
Sales decreased in four of nine subsectors, representing 48% of retail trade. In volume terms, retail sales decreased by 0.7%.
(Percent changes) Feb Feb Jan(rev) Jan(prev)
mo/mo yr/yr mo/mo mo/mo
Total -0.2 +4.3 +1.6 +1.4
Excluding autos/parts -0.7 +3.2 +0.9 +0.9
NOTE: Figures are seasonally adjusted except those for e-commerce data. Analysts had, on average, forecast a 0.6% decrease in overall sales in February, and for sales to decrease 0.1% excluding autos.
($1=$1.3524 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Dale Smith; editing by Ismail Shakil)
Keywords: CANADA ECONOMY/SALESFIGURES