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SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) - Retail sales in January rose a seasonally adjusted 0.9 pct from December to 18.621 bln aud, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.

The increase was above the market consensus forecast for a 0.5 pct rise and followed a 0.2 pct gain in retail sales in December from November, revised down from the earlier estimate of a 0.3 pct increase.

Compared to a year earlier, retail sales were 6.6 pct higher in January.

Household goods had the highest increase in January, up 2.9 pct, while food sales rose 1.1 pct, department store sales increased 0.7 pct, hospitality and services sales gained 0.5 pct and clothing and soft goods sales rose 0.4 pct.

However, recreational goods sales dropped 2.4 pct during the month and other retail sales fell 0.5 pct.

The ABS released the following table:

January December November

(in bln aud)

Adjusted 18.621 18.457 18.414

Trend 18.571 18.496 18.418

Original 18.239 23.636 19.223

(1 usd = 1.28 aud)

paul.daniel@xfn.com

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