Australia’s retail sales drop 0.1% in April, a big miss (Aussie keeps lows)

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

Australia's consumption, as represented by retail sales, dropped in the month of April, missing estimates by a big margin, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported on Tuesday. The retail sales arrived at -0.1 percent month-on-month, compared to the forecast of +0.2 percent and down from previous month's reading of +0.3 percent.

April Key Points (via ABS)

Current Prices

“The trend estimate rose 0.2% in April 2019. This follows a rise of 0.2% in March 2019, and a rise of 0.2% in February 2019.

The seasonally adjusted estimate fell 0.1% in April 2019. This follows a rise of 0.3% in March 2019, and a rise of 0.8% in February 2019.

In trend terms, Australian turnover rose 2.9% in April 2019 compared with April 2018.

The following industries rose in trend terms in April 2019: Food retailing (0.4%), Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (0.4%), Other retailing (0.1%), Department stores (0.2%), and Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (0.1%). Household goods retailing (-0.2%) fell in trend terms in April 2019.

The following states and territories rose in trend terms in April 2019: Queensland (0.5%), New South Wales (0.2%), Victoria (0.2%), South Australia (0.3%), the Northern Territory (0.1%), and the Australian Capital Territory (0.1%). Tasmania (0.0%) was relatively unchanged. Western Australia (-0.1%) fell in trend terms in April 2019.”

Separately, the Australian current account data for the first quarter was published that arrived at 2.9B vs. -2.5B expectations and -7.2B last.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

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