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Investing.com-- Australian retail sales grew in line with expectations in January, mainly driven by an increase in food-related spending, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday.
Retail sales rose 0.3% month-on-month in January, aligning with forecasts, and compared with a 0.1% marginal decline in the prior month.
“Bumper crowds across large-scale events, including record attendance at the Australian Tennis Open and cricket events, lifted spending in catering services,” Robert Ewing, ABS head of business statistics, said.
Food-related spending rebounded in January after falling last month. Cafes, restaurants, and takeaway food services rose by 1.1%, while food retailing increased by 0.7%, data showed.
This was partly offset by a large drop in household goods retailing, which fell by 4.4%.
Ewing said the decline came after four straight increases due to heavy discounts during Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
The figure comes after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) reduced interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to 4.10% last month, marking the first rate cut since the pandemic.
This decision was influenced by a decline in annual inflation, which stood at 2.5% in January, aligning with December’s figure.
The RBA indicated that future rate adjustments would depend on incoming data and risk assessments, aiming to return inflation to the target range.