Retail sales in Australia jumped a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent on month in September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Friday – standing at A$25.314 billion.
That beat forecasts for 0.4 percent following the upwardly revised 0.5 percent increase in the previous month (originally 0.4 percent).
The biggest gains by category were cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (0.9 percent), food retailing (0.2 percent), household goods retailing (0.2 percent) and clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (0.2 percent).
Other retailing (0.0 percent) was relatively unchanged and department store sales (-0.3 percent) fell in September.
By region, there were gains in Queensland (0.6 percent), New South Wales (0.2 percent), Victoria (0.2 percent), South Australia (0.3 percent), the Australian Capital Territory (0.4 percent) and Tasmania (0.1 percent).
Western Australia (-0.1 percent) and the Northern Territory (-0.1 percent) fell in September.
For the third quarter of 2016, retail sales eased 0.1 percent on quarter to A$73.880 billion.
That was shy of forecasts for a gain of 0.2 percent and down from 0.4 percent in the three months prior.
The main contributors to this fall were food retailing (-0.7 percent) and department stores (-3.6 percent).
by RTT Staff Writer
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