Canada's retail sales fall in September for 2nd time in 9 months

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Canada's retail sales fell 0.5% to $61.1 billion in September, marking the second decline in the last nine months, according to figures released by Statistics Canada.

The drop was in line with expectations, while retail sales increased 0.4% in August after they had fallen 2.5% in July.

"Sales declined in seven of the 11 subsectors, representing 74.9% of retail trade," Statistics Canada said Tuesday.

"The decrease was led by sales at gasoline stations with 2.4%, and food and beverage stores at 1.3%," it added.

Retail e-commerce sales were down 5.4% in September on a seasonally adjusted basis.