KEY POINTS:
Shoppers eased off spending in December as expected, with seasonally adjusted retail sales falling 1 per cent for the month, Statistics New Zealand said today.
The median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists was a decline of 1.1 per cent.
The biggest fall was in automotive fuel retailing, down 8.4 per cent, while the biggest increase was in motor vehicle retailing, up 2.9 per cent.
Excluding vehicle-related industries, sales fell 0.6 per cent in December, compared with a forecast 0.3 per cent fall.
December quarter sales fell 1.1 per cent, seasonally adjusted, the largest quarterly fall since March 1997, Statistics NZ said.
- NZPA
