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Retail sales in Australia unexpectedly slumped for the first time in five months in December, official data showed on Thursday.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday that retail sales were down a seasonally adjusted 0.7% month-on-month in December. This came in contrast to analyst expectations for a 0.2% increase after the upwardly revised 1.5% growth in the previous month.
The disappointing figures confirm fears that demand slowed through the Christmas shopping season as interest rate rises and the waning impact of stimulus their toll and justify the central bank's decision to hold interest rates this week.
Department store sales dropped 3.5% in December compared to November, while sales of clothing, footwear & other personal accessories, and food retailing fell 1.9% and 1.3%, respectively.
On the other hand, sales in cafes, restaurants & takeaway food services increased 2.5%, while other retailing was flat.
Retail sales were down all across the country excepting New South Wales, where sales nudged up 0.1%. South Australia recorded the largest decline in sales at 3.7% in December, followed by Tasmania at 2% and Victoria at 1%.
For the fourth quarter of 2009, retail sales were up 1.1% compared to the previous three months, roughly in line with expectations for a 1% gain.
The Australian dollar tumbled against its major counterparts in early Asian trading following the release of the retail sales report. The Aussie dollar reached a new six-week low against the U.S. dollar and two-day lows against the rest of the majors.
The fall in sales flies in the face of data that showed sentiment among Australian consumers picking up in January despite three successive rate increases from the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Last month, it was announced that the Westpac Bank / Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index rose to 120 points in January from 113.8 in the previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The decline in sales suggest Australian shoppers grew more cautious at the end of last year than the recent consumer sentiment data indicates.
The disappointingly weak retail sales figures were somewhat offset by a strong growth in building approvals in December.
Building approvals were up a seasonally adjusted 2.2% in December compared to the previous month, coming in at 14,869. This was better than analysts' expectations for a flat reading after the 5.9% increase in November.
On an annual basis, approvals surged 53.3%, well over expectations for a 38.2% increase after the 33.3% growth in the prior month.
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