The data, published
by Statistics Canada on Friday, showed that Canadian retail sales advanced 0.4
per cent m-o-m to CAD66.63 billion in August, following an unrevised 0.9 per cent m-o-m increase in July.
Economists
had forecast a gain of
0.5 per cent m-o-m for August.
According
to the report, 4 of 9 subsectors showed increases in retail sales in August, led by motor vehicle and parts dealers (+3.5 per cent m-o-m). Meanwhile,
gasoline stations and fuel vendors (-2.7
per cent m-o-m) demonstrated the biggest drop in retail
sales in August.
Excluding auto,
retail sales declined 0.7 per cent m-o-m in August after a downwardly revised 0.3 per cent m-o-m rise (from +0.4 per
cent m-o-m) in the previous month, being much worse than economists’ estimate of a 0.3 per cent increase.
In y-o-y terms,
Canadian retail sales surged 1.4 per cent in August, following an unrevised 0.9 per cent jump in the previous month. This
represented the strongest annual gain in retail sales since a fall in March
(+1.4 per cent).
Statistics
Canada also said its preliminary estimates suggest that Canada’s retail sales rose 0.4 per cent m-o-m in September.