Data points to pickup in retail sales

NZPA

Monday 11th July 2011

Retail sales look to have risen strongly in June, particularly when fuel is excluded, new data from Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) shows.

Electronic card transactions in retail industries rose a seasonally adjusted 1.2 percent in the month from May. Durable goods, including furniture, hardware and appliances, rose 2.4 percent, while consumables gained 1.4 percent.

Fuel retailing was down 3.6 percent in June after falling 4.5 percent in May, coinciding with a fall in fuel prices after nine consecutive monthly rises, SNZ said. The value of vehicle sales rose 1.1 percent.

Core retail, which excludes vehicle-related industries, rose 2.1 percent in June, while the actual value of core transactions was 8.6 percent higher than it was a year earlier.

The total seasonally adjusted value of electronic card spending was up 0.8 percent from May, taking into account changes in the two industries outside retail -- services up 0.8 percent, and non-retail down 0.9 percent.

Trends for the value of transactions in the total and retail series had been increasing since January 2009, and the rate of increase had been strong in recent months, SNZ said.

The core retail trend had generally been increasing since the series began in October 2002, with the rate of increase strengthening since last December.

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