Australia's Retail Sales Rise Moderately In August

Australia's retail turnover logged a moderate growth in August, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Friday.

Retail sales grew 0.3 percent month-on-month in August, following a relatively unchanged estimate in July and a 0.4 percent rise in June. Sales were expected to climb 0.2 percent.

There were rises in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. Western Australia was relatively unchanged, whilst there was a fall in the Northern Territory.

Over a longer-term and in a general sense, household income growth is expected to remain subdued and the major constraint on consumer spending with a likely negative wealth effect from the decline in home prices an additional headwind, Simon Murray, an economist at Westpac, said.

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