Investing.com - Retail sales in Canada increased in line with forecasts in April, while those excluding automobiles rose more than twice as much as expected, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, Statistics Canada said that Canadian, retail sales rose 0.9% in April, in line with the market forecast and compared to the 0.8% decline in the prior month that was revised up from the original drop of 1.0%.
Core retail sales, excluding automobiles, advanced by a seasonally adjusted 1.3%, from a 0.1% decline the preceding month whose figure was revised up from a 0.3% drop.
Analysts had expected Canadian core retail sales to rise just 0.6% in April.
The loonie strengthened on the news. After the report, USD/CAD traded at 1.2742, compared to 1.2770 prior to the release.