April 25 (Reuters) – Canadian retail sales fell by 0.4% in February from January at C$69.33 billion ($49.95 billion), on lower sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers, Statistics Canada said on Friday.
Sales likely increased 0.7% in March, the agency said in a flash estimate.
In February, sales were down in four of nine subsectors, representing 43.1% of retail trade. In volume terms, retail sales decreased by 0.4%.
(Percent changes) Feb Feb Jan(rev) Jan(prev)
mo/mo yr/yr mo/mo mo/mo
Total -0.4 +4.7 -0.6 -0.6
Excluding autos/parts +0.5 +4.9 +0.1 +0.2
NOTE: All figures are seasonally adjusted.
($1=$1.3880 Canadian)
(Reporting by Dale Smith)
Keywords: CANADA ECONOMY/RETAIL
