CANBERRA: Australian retail sales missed expectations again in September, following a sharp fall in August. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), nominal sales growth was flat at 0.0% in seasonally adjusted terms, short of forecasts for a gain of 0.4%. Quarterly figures for retail sales volumes rose by 0.1%, slightly ahead of expectations with analysts forecasting flat growth.
The Australian dollar fell sharply on the result, and a short time ago was down 0.3% to 0.7689 US cents. September’s result follows a bad miss in the August results, when retail sales unexpectedly declined by 0.6%. The August figure was subsequently revised slightly higher to -0.5%. The flat result for September saw the year-on-year pace of sales slow to just 1.4%, down from 2.13% in August. The retail sales report measures changes in dollars spent on retail goods from one month to the next. In seasonally adjusted terms, gains were led by a pickup in department store sales to 2.1% (up from 0.7% in August) and food sales (0.6% growth in September). Those were offset by falls in the other major categories. Household good retailing fell by 0.4% while footwear and personal accessory retailing dipped by 0.7%. Both categories recorded their third straight months of declines in September. Sales in the category of other retailing recorded a 1.7% fall. Across the states and territories, falls in retail sales were led by Northern Territory (-1.7%) and WA (-1.3%). Victoria was flat and all other states posted a gain for the month, led by South Australia with a 0.7% rise. Sales volume growth of 0.1% in the September quarter was down from the 1.5% increase reported for the three months to the end of June.
