2020.04.0301:22:00UTC+00Australia Retail Sales Climb 0.5% In February

Retail sales in Australia rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent on month in February, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Friday - coming in at A$27.755 billion.

That beat expectations for an increase of 0.4 percent following the 0.3 percent decline in January.

The following industries rose in seasonally adjusted terms in February 2020: Food retailing (0.8 percent), Department stores (3.1 percent), Household goods retailing (0.7 percent), Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (0.2 percent), and Other retailing (0.2 percent). Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (-2.9 percent) fell in seasonally adjusted terms in February 2020.

The following states and territories rose in seasonally adjusted terms in February 2020: Queensland (0.8 percent), Victoria (0.5 percent), Western Australia (1.2 percent), South Australia (0.4 percent), and the Australian Capital Territory (1.1 percent). Tasmania (0.0 percent) and New South Wales (0.0 percent) were relatively unchanged. The Northern Territory (-0.7 percent) fell in seasonally adjusted terms in February 2020.