Canada's retail sales rose 0.5% month over month to $73.0 billion in April, in line with expectations, while preliminary data for May indicates a strengthening of consumer spending amid a surge in gasoline prices, said the country's statistical agency on Friday.
April's sales were up in five of nine subsectors, led by increases at gasoline stations and fuel vendors, noted Statistics Canada in a statement.
The April retail sales increase was similar to the 0.6% month-over-month consensus gain figure provided by MUFG in a note earlier Friday.
Core retail sales, which exclude gasoline stations and fuel vendors and motor vehicle and parts dealers, were down 0.7% month over month in April.
StatsCan provided an advance estimate of retail sales, which suggests that sales increased 1.0% month over month in May. This estimate was calculated based on responses received from 52.1% of companies surveyed, while the average final response rate for the survey over the previous 12 months was 87.9%, pointed out the Ottawa-based agency.
In volume terms, retail sales were unchanged in April.