Eurozone Retail Sales Rise More Than Forecast

(RTTNews) - Eurozone retail sales expanded more than expected in November on non-food product turnover, Eurostat reported Friday.

Retail sales increased 0.2 percent on a monthly basis, marginally above economists' forecast of 0.1 percent growth. Nonetheless, the pace of growth eased from October's 0.3 percent increase.

The monthly growth was driven by the 0.4 percent rise in non-food products turnover. The sales volume of food, drinks and tobacco decreased 0.2 percent and that of automotive fuel in specialized stores slid 0.1 percent.

Year-on-year, retail sales growth accelerated to 2.3 percent from 1.9 percent in October. Moreover, this was better than expected expansion of 1.6 percent. Data showed that sales in the EU27 registered a steady growth of 0.2 percent in November. On a yearly basis, sales were up 2.3 percent, faster than the prior month's 2.0 percent rise.

Among member states of EU, the highest monthly increases in the total retail trade volume were recorded in Luxembourg , Portugal and Denmark. Meanwhile, the largest decreases were seen in Croatia, Belgium and Slovakia.