Australia retail sales volumes dip in Q4, price growth slows

Reuters

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian retail sales volumes fell for the first time in a year last quarter as shoppers trimmed spending on goods, a sign higher borrowing costs are finally working to curb spending.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed real retail sales dipped 0.2% in the December quarter to A$96.9 billion ($66.99 billion). That was still better than market forecasts of a 0.6% fall and will make a slight drag on economic growth.

The report also showed growth in retail prices was the slowest all year in the quarter, which might reassure the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) that its aggressive policy tightening is starting to cool demand, albeit slowly.

Related News:   Toms River Police Investigating Million Dollar Jewelry Heist at the Ocean County Mall

The central bank meets on Tuesday as is widely expected to hike rates by a quarter point to 3.35%. [AU/INT]


(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Christopher Cushing)


tagreuters.com2023binary_LYNXMPEJ1500H-BASEIMAGE

You appear to be using an ad blocker

Shore News Network is a free website that does not use paywalls or charge for access to original, breaking news content. In order to provide this free service, we rely on advertisements. Please support our journalism by disabling your ad blocker for this website.