Australia Retail Sales Fall For First Time In 4 Months

(RTTNews) - Australia retail sales declined for the first time in four months in April, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.

Retail sales fell 0.1 percent on a monthly basis, reversing a 0.3 percent rise in March. "Falls were partly offset by a bounce-back in Queensland as businesses recovered from the negative impacts of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred last month," Robert Ewing, ABS head of business statistics, said.

There were mixed results across the industries with the largest falls in clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing and department stores. This was partially offset by rises in other retailing and household goods retailing.

On a yearly basis, retail sales growth slowed to 3.8 percent from 4.3 percent in the previous month.