Australia retail sales growth slows to 0.2% in February

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian retail sales eked out a meagre gain in February after wild swings around year-end holidays, indicating shoppers are reining in spending in the face of higher costs of living and rising interest rates.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Tuesday showed retail sales rose 0.2% in February from January, when they picked up a revised 1.8%. Sales of A$35.14 billion ($23.42 billion) were 6.4% higher than a year earlier.

The result was just a touch above median forecasts of a rise of 0.1%. Estimates from analysts ranged from minus 1.2% to plus 1.3%.

($1 = 1.5004 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Stella Qiu; Editing by Christopher Cushing)