Italy retail sales deteriorate in September on lower spending, uncertainty persists over referendum

Retail sales in Italy deteriorated during the month of September, following lower consumer spending as uncertainty still persists over the outcome of the Italian constitutional referendum to be held on December 14.

The retail trade index measures the monthly evolution of the turnover at current prices of enterprises with retail sale outlets. With effect from January 2013 the indices are calculated with reference to the base year 2010 using the Ateco 2007 classification.

In September, the seasonally adjusted retail trade index decreased by 0.6 percent with respect to August, data released by data agency Istat showed Friday.

Sales of non-food goods fell 0.8 percent, while there was a -0.3 percent drop in sales of food goods. The average of the last three months decreased with respect to the previous three months (-0.4 percent). The unadjusted index decreased by 1.4 percent with respect to September 2015.

Meanwhile, the EUR/USD currency pair has formed bullish pattern, rising 0.44 percent to 1.06, following the release of the data, while at 11:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Euro Strength Index remained neutral at 4.71 (lower than the +75 benchmark for bullish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex