Retail sales in Singapore increased unexpectedly in January, figures from the Department of Statistics showed Thursday.
Sales increased 1.7 percent year-on-year in January, while economists' expectations were for a 1.3 percent decline. This followed a 4.3 percent increase in December.
Compared to last year, motor vehicle sales declined 2.8 percent. However, this was weaker than the 9.6 percent drop forecast. Sales at department stores grew 2.9 percent and supermarket sales rose 8.4 percent.
On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, sales rose 1.7 percent compared to 1.5 percent decline forecast. Vehicle sales were 9.9 percent higher than a month ago.
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