Retail sales have come in at 0.3 percent growth for January, just below consensus expectations of a 0.4 percent gain. The January figures come after retail sales in December showed zero growth, missing expectations for a rise of 0.4 percent.
The December figures followed a 0.4 percent lift in November and a 0.6 percent lift in October. A 0.5 percent rise in household goods spending was behind the overall lift. Total retail spending was AUD24.83 billion (USD 18.25bn) in January, up from AUD24.75 billion (USD 18.20bn) in December.
The retail sales figures follow this week’s stunning economic growth figures, which showed Australia’s economy, grew at 0.6 per cent for the December quarter. Coupled with a revision in third quarter growth from 0, 9 percent up to 1.1 percent that pushed annual GDP growth up to 3 per cent – the strongest rate since the first quarter of 2014.