Jan 19 (Reuters) - Canadian retail sales fell by 0.2% in November from October at C$66.61 billion ($49.36 billion), led by decreases at food and beverage retailers, as well as general merchandise stores, Statistics Canada said on Friday. Sales were likely up 0.8% in December, the agency said in a flash estimate.
In November, sales were down in four of nine subsectors, representing 43.5% of retail trade. In volume terms, retail sales decreased 0.2%.
(Percent changes) Nov Nov Oct(rev) Oct(prev)
mo/mo yr/yr mo/mo mo/mo
Total -0.2 +1.8 +0.5 +0.7
Excluding autos/parts -0.5 +0.1 +0.4 +0.6
NOTE: All figures are seasonally adjusted. Analysts surveyed by Reuters forecast November retail sales to be unchanged, and to be down 0.1% excluding autos.
($1=$1.3494 Canadian)