-- Canadian retail sales increased 0.7% month over month to $72.1 billion in February as sales were up in seven of nine subsectors, led by increases at motor vehicle and parts dealers, said the country's statistical agency on Friday.
February's retail sales were a tad lower than the 0.9% month-over-month consensus increase provided by MUFG.
Statistics Canada also provided an advance estimate of retail sales on Friday, suggesting sales increased 0.6% month over month in March. This unofficial estimate was calculated based on responses received from 62.7% of companies surveyed. The average final response rate for the survey over the previous 12 months was 88.5%.
On the February data, StatsCan noted core retail sales, which exclude gasoline stations and fuel vendors and motor vehicle and parts dealers, were up 0.6% month over month. In volume terms, retail sales increased 0.3% month over month.