Euro zone retail sales stable in April, below expectations

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone retail sales were unchanged in April against March and growth slowed down year-on-year, mostly due to timid consumers in Germany and Belgium in the month following the Brussels attacks, the European Union's statistics office said on Friday.

Retail sales, a proxy for household spending, were flat in April month-on-month in the 19-country currency bloc, Eurostat said, despite market expectations of a more robust rebound after the drop recorded in March.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a monthly increase of 0.3 percent.

Yearly figures were also lower than expected, with sales up 1.4 percent, below market forecasts of a 1.9 percent rise. The April reading was lower than the 1.8 percent rise recorded in March, and half the 2.8 percent surge in sales recorded in February.

Eurostat also revised down both annual and monthly figures for March. The year-on-year increase in retail sales was revised to 1.8 percent from the 2.1 percent previously estimated. Month-on-month, the fall in sales was revised to -0.6 percent against the initial estimate of a 0.5 percent drop.

Year-on-year euro zone sales in April were dragged down mostly by drops in consumers' purchases in Germany, the largest economy of the euro zone, and in Belgium, in the month following the March 22 attacks in Brussels, offsetting large increases in Spain and France.

Belgium recorded the biggest decrease in retail sales among the 19 countries of the euro zone with a 2.3 drop year-on-year in April. In Germany sales went down 0.6 percent on a yearly basis.

Month-on-month, German sales went down 0.9 percent in April, the second worst fall in the euro zone after the -1.2 percent recorded in Finland. Belgian sales went up 1.1 percent after a 0.6 percent drop in March.

Compared to the previous month, sales of automotive fuel in the euro zone fell by 0.1 percent, while sales for non-food products including electronic appliances and clothing remained flat. Sales increased 0.5 percent for food, drinks and tobacco, rebounding after a 1.1 percent fall in March.