Australia Retail Sales Surge 1.4% On Month

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Retail sales in Australia jumped a seasonally adjusted 1.4 percent in November compared to the previous month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday, coming in at A$20.08 billion.

Marking the sharpest increase in eight months, the data was sharply higher than the 0.3 percent increase that analysts had been expecting following the 0.4 percent gain in October.

Clothing and other accessories were the top gainers, adding 2.5 percent, followed by household goods at 1.7 percent, food at 1.6 percent, restaurants and department stores at 1.1 percent and other retailing at 0.2 percent.

By region, South Australia was the top gainer at 3.1 percent, followed by the Australian Capital Territory at 2.7 percent, Victoria at 2.1 percent, New South Wales at 1.3 percent, Western Australia at 0.7 percent, Queensland at 0.6 percent and the Northern Territory at 0.5 percent. Tasmania was unchanged.

On an annual basis, retail sales surged 7.3 percent.

Also on Thursday, the ABS said that Australia posted a seasonally adjusted trade deficit of A$1.7 billion in November. That was better than analyst expectations for a A$1.8 billion shortfall following the revised A$2.08 billion deficit in October.

Exports were down A$291 million or 2 percent to A$19.032 billion. Non-rural goods fell A$314 million or 3 percent, with the coal, coke and briquettes component down A$132 million or 5 percent and the metals component down A$120 million or 14 percent. Non-monetary gold fell A$29 million or 3 percent and rural goods rose A$86 million or 5 percent and services credits fell A$33 million or 1 percent.

Imports were down A$670 million or 3 percent to A$20.733 billion. Capital goods fell A$307 million or 8 percent, while non-monetary gold fell A$231 million or 34 percent and intermediate and other merchandise goods fell A$127 million or 2 percent. Consumption goods added A$12 million and services debits fell A$19 million.

Following the release of the data, the Australian dollar touched a fresh multi-year high against the euro and more than a year against the yen as traders' appetite for risk became more robust.

Extending a four-day winning streak, the Australian dollar touched 1.5585 against the common currency of Europe by 7:35 pm ET and this marked the highest point for the domestic unit since November 1, 2007.

The euro-Aussie pair, which closed Wednesday's deals at 1.5665, is trading at 1.562 and breaching the 1.545 resistance could set the strongest level for the Aussie in more than nine years.

Against the Japanese yen, the Australian dollar advanced to a fresh 15-month high of 85.57. In a longer-term, resistance could be seen around the 89.0 level for the Australian currency.

(Market News Provided by RTTNews)