Investing.com-- Australian retail sales rose slightly less than expected in February, as higher food spending was offset by weaker demand for discretionary and household goods.
Retail sales rose 0.2% month-on-month in February, against expectations it would remain steady at 0.3%, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday.
Food-related spending rose for the second consecutive month in February. This was largely offset by weaker household goods retailing, which fell for the second straight month.
“Following promotion-based growth across the December quarter, spending on household goods continued to moderate with lower discretionary spending to begin the year,” Robert Ewing, ABS head of business statistics, said.
The figure comes ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) policy meeting due later on Tuesday.
The RBA reduced interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to 4.10% in Feb, marking the first rate cut since the pandemic.
This decision was influenced by a decline in annual inflation, however, the central bank officials have since adopted a cautious tone on further cuts due to sticky core inflation.
The RBA is widely expected to stand pat on interest rates this week, indicating that future adjustments will depend on incoming data and risk assessments. Analysts anticipate the next RBA rate cut in May.