Singapore retail sales unexpectedly fall for second straight month in January

Singapore’s retail sales unexpectedly fell for the second straight month by 1.5 percent month-over-month on a seasonally-adjusted basis after a revised 0.8 percent drop in the previous month, according to data released by the Singapore Department of Statistics.

Retail sales rose 2 percent year-on-year in January, higher than the revised 0.7 percent increase seen in December. Patchy recovery in Singapore's retail sector just showing towards the end of 2016, gained strength in January. Excluding autos, retail sales also fell 1.3 percent month-over-month and were up 2.0 percent year-on-year in January.

Supermarkets and food & beverage outlets were the top performers in January, with sales rising 13 per cent and 12 per cent respectively. Worst hit were sales of furniture and household equipment which fell 9.7 per cent.

"Given the seasonal effects for the Jan-Feb period, we would hesitate to over-interpret the data. Nevertheless, the retail sales data was somewhat overshadowed by announcement of calibrated adjustments to SSD and TDSR framework from 11 March 2017," said Ms Selena Ling, Head of Treasury Research & Strategy, OCBC Bank.