Forexpros – Canadian wholesale sales rose unexpectedly in February, rebounding from the previous month’s steep decline, official data showed on Monday.
In a report, Statistics Canada said wholesale sales rose by 1.6% in February, confounding expectations for a 1.0% decline.
January’s figure was revised to a drop of 1.1% from a previously reported decline of 1.0%.
Year-on-year, Canadian wholesale sales rose at an annualized rate of 7.0% in February, after climbing by 4.0% in January.
Canadian wholesale sales totaled CAD48.5 billion in February. Higher sales were reported in most subsectors in February, four of which accounted for about 90% of the national growth.
According to the data, the largest increase in dollar terms was in the motor vehicles and parts subsector. All provinces except Quebec and Prince Edward Island reported increases in February.
Following the release of the data, the Canadian dollar remained lower against its U.S. counterpart, with USD/CAD gaining 0.42% to trade at 0.9964.
Forexpros
