Australian retail sales grows below expectations in January

Australian retail sales came in weaker than anticipated in January, with only a small recovery after the soft December result. On a sequential basis, retail sales rose 0.1 percent, while the growth decelerated to 2.7 percent on a year-on-year basis from December’s print of 2.8 percent. This is the softest annual growth since May-2018. In three-month-end annualized terms, sales growth decelerated to 0.8 percent, the lowest rate since the August and September 2017.

Department stores sales fell 2.1 percent sequentially, after a fall of 1.3 percent in the prior month. The furniture, floor covering, houseware category was especially soft with a fall of 2.4 percent sequentially. This category dropped 2.5 percent year-on-year, with this most likely a reflection of the weak housing market, noted ANZ in a research report.

NSW recorded the largest rise among the states, with sales rising 0.7 percent sequentially after falling 0.6 percent in the prior month. NSW retail sales are now back to the national average in year-on-year terms.

Discretionary spending came in flat for the third consecutive month, decelerating the annual rate of discretionary spending growth sharply.

At 11:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Australian Dollar was slightly bearish at -54.7541, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was neutral at 40.7514 more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex