Australia retail sales rose 0.3% mom in March, above expectation of 0.2% mom. February’s growth was revised up from 0.8% mom to 0.9% mom. In seasonally adjusted terms, there were rises in Victoria (0.7%), Queensland (0.6%), New South Wales (0.2%), Tasmania (0.4%), South Australia (0.1%), and the Northern Territory (0.7%). The Australian Capital Territory was relatively unchanged (0.0%) and Western Australia (-0.7%) fell in seasonally adjusted terms in March 2019.
Trade surplus narrowed to AUD 4.95B in March, down from AUD 5.14B but beat expectation of AUD 4.49B. Goods and services exports dropped -2% to AUD 39.34B. Good and services imports dropped -1% to AUD 34.39B.
