Canada December retail sales up 0.5% on autos, seen up 0.7% in January

Feb 21 (Reuters) – Canadian retail sales rose by 0.5% in December from November at C$62.12 billion ($46.19 billion), on higher sales at motor vehicles and parts dealers, as well as general merchandise stores, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday. Sales were seen to rise by 0.7% in January, the agency said in a flash estimate.

Sales increased in seven of 11 subsectors, representing 75.1% of retail trade. In volume terms, retail sales grew 1.3%.

(Percent changes) Dec Dec Nov(rev) Nov(prev)

mo/mo yr/yr mo/mo mo/mo

Total +0.5 +7.3 -0.0 -0.1

Excluding autos/parts -0.6 +9.0 -0.5 -0.6

NOTE: Analysts surveyed by Reuters forecast an increase of 0.5% in December retail sales. Figures are seasonally adjusted except those for e-commerce data.

($1=$1.3449 Canadian)

(Reporting by Dale Smith; editing by Ismail Shakil) ((ismail.shakil@tr.com))