FOREX Update: Canadian Retail Sales rise in February. Loonie lower in trading

By CountingPips.com

Economic news out of Canada today showed that retail sales rebounded in February after sales declined in January. Canadian retail sales increased by 0.4 percent to a C$37.3 billion total in February after a decrease by 0.4 percent in January, according to the report by Statistics Canada. The rise in sales was slightly less than expected as economic forecasts were predicting a 0.5 percent increase for the month.

On an annual basis, February’s retail sales level was 3.7 percent higher than the February 2010 level.

Core retail sales, excluding automobile sales, climbed by 0.7 percent in February following a decline by 0.2 percent in January. The rise in core sales surpassed market forecasts that were expecting a 0.5 percent increase for the month.

Contributing to the gain in the retail sales numbers was an increase in gasoline station sales which rose by 1.3 percent. Also contributing positively to the report were gains in furniture & home furnishing store sales (+2.1%), clothing and accessories store sales (+2.5%), sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores (+1.4%) and miscellaneous store retailers (+1.6%).

Negative contributors to the retail sales report in February included motor vehicle and parts dealers (-0.6%) and electronics a appliance stores (-0.6%).

Canadian Loonie falls in Forex Trading today

The Canadian “loonie” dollar has been weaker today in the currency markets despite the positive retail sales data for February. The Canadian currency is trading lower versus the US dollar, euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Swiss franc, New Zealand dollar and Australian dollar, according to currency data from Oanda.

AUD/CAD Chart -The Australian dollar increasing higher versus the Canadian dollar for a second day in a row. The AUD/CAD is now over the 1.2000 level.