Retail sales fell a seasonally adjusted 0.2 per cent in November from October, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) says.
Excluding vehicle-related industries, sales for the core retailing group fell 0.1 per cent.
The figures were slightly weaker than expected. Median figures in a Reuters poll of economists had been
for a fall of 0.1 per cent in all sales, and a rise of 0.1 per cent in the figures excluding vehicle-related industries.
Actual sales for the year to November were up 4.5 per cent, compared to an expected 4.4 per cent.
The 0.2 per cent fall in total retail sales, came after increases of 0.3 per cent in October and 1.1 per cent in September.
The figure would appear to reduce even further the chance of the Reserve Bank raising the Official Cash Rate next Thursday from its present 7.25 per cent.
The weak retail figure comes after data on Wednesday showed the Consumers Price Index fell 0.2 per cent in the December quarter.
That took the annual inflation rate to 2.6 per cent, after having been outside the Reserve Bank's 1 to 3 per cent target range in the previous five quarters.
UBS senior economist Robin Clements said today's negative retail figure was not big, but did err on the side of the Reserve Bank staying on hold next week.
BNZ head of market economics Stephen Toplis said a relatively soft figure had been expected for November after strong sales in October.
But if October and November were added together, and anecdotes for December were included, it pointed to "extraordinarily strong sales volumes in the fourth quarter".
SNZ said that only three of 24 industries surveyed had seasonally adjusted movements greater than $6 million.
Appliance retailing recorded the largest increase, up 5.2 per cent or $11 million.
Department stores had the largest decrease, down 2.9 per cent or $9m, followed by motor vehicle retailing, down 1.1 per cent or $7m, SNZ said.
Auckland was the only region to show a lift in seasonally adjusted sales in November compared to October, lifting 0.5 per cent.
Waikato was down 1.5 per cent, Wellington down 0.5 per cent, the rest of the North Island down 2 per cent, Canterbury down 0.4 per cent, and the rest of the South Island down 2.8 per cent.
- NZPA
- NZPA
