Canada: Retail Sales rise by 0.5% in December

Canadian retail sales rose by 0.5% in December from November at C$62.12 billion ($46.19 billion), on higher sales at motor vehicles and parts dealers, as well as general merchandise stores, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday. Sales were seen to rise by 0.7% in January, the agency said in a flash estimate.

Sales increased in seven of 11 subsectors, representing 75.1% of retail trade. In volume terms, retail sales grew 1.3%.

“Core retail sales—which exclude gasoline stations and motor vehicle and parts dealers—increased 0.4%,” Statistics Canada noted in its publication. “In volume terms, retail sales increased 1.3% in December.”

Despite the upbeat data, USD/CAD trades in positive territory and edges higher toward 1.3500 in the early American session. Soft inflation figures from Canada seem to be weighing on the Canadian Dollar.