Canada's manufacturing sales rise 0.2% in January

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Canada's manufacturing sales rose 0.2% to $71.1 billion in January, according to figures released Thursday by the country's statistical agency.

The market expectation for the figure was to show an increase of 0.3%.

The rise in January was led by the transportation equipment with a gain of 4.3% and chemicals with an increase of 3.5%.

"Following five consecutive monthly declines, sales in the motor vehicle industry group rose 19.6% to $5.3 billion in January," Statistics Canada said in a statement. "Sales of chemical products rose 3.5% from December to $5.6 billion in January."