FX.co ★ Australia Retail Sales Growth Accelerates In February

Australia retail sales grew at a faster pace in February, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

Retail sales advanced 1.8 percent in February from January, when turnover was up 1.6 percent. This was the second consecutive rise in sales.

On a yearly basis, retail sales growth improved to 9.1 percent from 6.3 percent in January.

The monthly growth was largely driven by sales of clothing, footwear and personal accessory, which grew 11.2 percent and department store sales moved up 11.1 percent. Household goods retailing grew 2.3 percent.

Meanwhile, food retailing dropped 2.6 percent and other retailing was down 1.1 percent, data showed.