Retail sales in Australia were up a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent on month in March, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Monday - coming in at A$21.231 trillion.
That blew away forecasts for an increase of 0.2 percent following the 0.3 percent gain in February.
For the first quarter of 2012, retail sales climbed 1.8 percent on quarter to A$61.886 trillion.
That also beat forecasts for a rise of 0.4 percent, which would have been unchanged.
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