Australian retail sales rise sequentially in October

Australian retail sales rose in October, coming in line with expectations. On a sequential basis, retail sales rose 0.3 percent from a downwardly revised 0.1 percent rise in the prior month. On a year-on-year basis, sales growth came in stable at 3.6 percent year-on-year; however, in six-month and annualized terms sales growth decelerated to 2.6 percent from 3.1 percent in September.

Clothing sales rebounded 2.6 percent sequentially, after the 1.1 percent decline in September, while household good sales rose 0.6 percent sequentially. The only category where sales dropped was café, restaurants and takeaway. In three month end annualized terms sales have dropped sharply in clothing, department store sales and household goods sales, noted ANZ in a research report.

Sales in New South Wales were especially soft, declining by 0.4 percent sequentially in October. This is the second straight monthly fall and leaves sales up just 2.1 percent year-on-year, the softest annual result since mid-2013. Sales in Victoria rose just 0.6 percent sequentially, to be 6.4 percent higher over the year, while sales growth was solid in Queensland, up 1.1 percent and 4.1 percent year-on-year.

Encouragingly, large store sales were up 0.6 percent sequentially after a flat result in September.

At 13:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Australian Dollar was highly bullish at -144.259, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was neutral at -49.8627. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex