Retail sales in Australia rose in October ahead of the holiday season. The increase of 0.2% was however lower than analyst expectations of a rise of 0.4%. Retail sales rose to AUD 20.9 billion from AUD 20.8 billion in September. Food retailers reported a 0.5% growth while non food retailers reported a 0.1% growth. Western Australia reported the highest growth in retail sales while New South Wales suffered a 0.1% decline in retail sales. Read more