Aussie Retail Sales beat by 0.1% MoM, miss 0.1% QoQ

The Australian Retails Sales have landed with a mixed picture. "The slow wages growth and soft consumer sentiment even with the RBA rate cut suggest another underwhelming month," analysts at Westpac explained.

For Q2 inflation-adjusted sales, they looked for a 0.3%qtr rise, in line with consensus. "This compares to -0.1%qtr in Q1 but bear in mind that the retail sales survey captures only a portion of total household spending – the national accounts estimate of private consumption was +0.3%."

The data arrived as follows:

• Australian Retail Sales (MoM) Jun: 0.4% (exp 0.3%; prev 0.1%).
• Retail Sales ex inflation (QoQ) Q2: 0.2% (exp 0.3%; prev -0.1%).

About the Retail Sales

The Retail Sales released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics is a survey of goods sold by retailers is based on a sampling of retail stores of different types and sizes and it's considered as an indicator of the pace of the Australian economy. It shows the performance of the retail sector over the short and mid-term. Positive economic growth anticipates bullish trends for the AUD, while a low reading is seen as negative or bearish.

Australia June 19 Retail Sales – Full Report

"There were rises in five of the six industries this month, although overall the retail environment remains subdued" said Ben James, Director of Quarterly Economy Wide Surveys. "Rises were seen in Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (2.0 per cent), Other retailing (0.6 per cent), Cafes, restaurants and takeaway services (0.5 per cent), Food retailing (0.1 per cent) and Household goods retailing (0.2 per cent). Department stores (-0.6 per cent) was the only industry to fall this month".

In seasonally adjusted terms, there were rises in New South Wales (0.3 per cent), Western Australia (0.8 per cent), Queensland (0.4 per cent), Victoria (0.3 per cent), Tasmania (1.5 per cent), and the Australian Capital Territory (0.3 per cent). South Australia (-0.3 per cent) and the Northern Territory (-0.2 per cent) fell in seasonally adjusted terms in June 2019.