Australian Retail Sales Missed Estimates in June

Australia’s retail sales rose less than expected again in June as personal spending continued to wind down.

Retail sales rose 0.1 percent in June, less than 0.2 percent recorded in May and below 0.4 percent predicted by economists prior to the release.

The disappointing result extends beyond June. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed year-on-year growth slow to 2.76 percent in the first half of the year. This was the weakest since July 2013.

According to the Australia Bureau of Statistics, sales of personal accessories, clothing and footwear rose 3.5 percent. Household goods sale rose 0.3 percent and department stores jumped 0.3 percent over the month to offset 0.6 percent fall in food retailing.

On a quarterly basis, sales volume rose 0.41 percent, missing 0.5 percent forecast by economists.

That was the weakest quarterly increase since the second quarter of 2014.

Household consumption is the largest component of Australian GDP, accounting for about 30 percent of the total GDP.