Australia: Retails sales a little better than expected – Westpac

The ABS has released a preliminary estimate for Feb retail sales showing a 0.4% rise in the month. The release is part of an effort to provide more timely information on the impacts of the Coronavirus, analysts at Westpac Institutional Bank inform.

Key quotes

“The 0.4% rise in Feb is a little better than expected. However, the detail was less promising.” 

“The preliminary estimates are likely to be marked lower once final figures are available as small businesses tend to have weaker sales growth and will likely have more exposure to the segments being most impacted by the virus outbreak.”

“The ABS commentary notes strong gains for food retail more than offsetting weakness in the clothing and other retailing both of which reported negative impacts from COVID-19.”