A huge beat on expectations for September retail sales from Australia.
+0.9% m/m
- expected +0.3%, prior +0.2%
- all categories performing strongly
Another data point that'll surely add to the case for a Reserve Bank of Australia rate hike at next week's policy meeting (on the 7th November).
Australian Bureau of Statistics comments:
- the rise in September was the largest since January
- subdued spending for most of 2023 means that underlying growth in Retail turnover remains historically low
- Retail turnover in trend terms is up only 1.5 per cent compared to September 2022 - the smallest trend growth over 12 months in the history of the series.
