Matthew Hassan, Research Analyst at Westpac, explains that Australian retailers reported a slightly better than expected, though still modest, 0.4% lift in sales in Apr in contrast to market expectations of 0.3% rise.
Key Quotes
“The gain comes after a flat result last month and a patchy period through Dec-Feb, a choppy profile partly reflecting shifting pre and post Christmas sales events.”
“Despite the better out-turn, annual sales growth slipped back to 2.6%yr from 3.2%yr in March.”
“The detail was still fairly mixed, anchored by a 0.3% rise for basic food and a solid improvement for household goods (+0.7%), other retail (0.9%) and cafes & restaurants (1.3%) but with continued weakness across clothing (-0.8%) and department stores (-0.9%). Some of the latter likely reflects continued aggressive price discounting.”
“Overall, the tone in this month’s retail report is slightly better than expected but there are still clear areas of weakness. Exactly how much of this is a sector specific issue remains an open question that the wider consumer spending estimates in the March quarter national accounts will go some way towards answering.”
Share
