Australian March Retail Sales: +0.8.5% QoQ vs +8.2% expected

Following the prior estimate which data represented stockpiling surge of 8.2%mth, the final readings of Australian March Retail Sales and Real Retail Sales for Q1 have come out as follows:

Retail Sales

AUSTRALIA MARCH RETAIL SALES +8.5 PCT M/M S/ADJ (REUTERS POLL +8.2 PCT)

AUSTRALIA Q1 CHAIN VOLUME RETAIL SALES +0.7 PCT Q/Q S/ADJ (REUTERS POLL +1.7 PCT)

More to come..

AUD/USD was two-way business overnight testing both 0.6420 and then 0.6475 before returning to yesterday’s 0.6440-60 range and consolidting in the 0.6420s ahead f the data. On the release of this report, AUD/USD has 

For more reading about the performance of the antipodeans, see here: AUD/NZD consolidates in key territories, H&S in the making and Chart of the week: AUD/JPY looking ripe for a short

Description of Retail Sales

The Retail Sales released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics is a survey of goods sold by retailers is based on a sampling of retail stores of different types and sizes and it''s considered as an indicator of the pace of the Australian economy. It shows the performance of the retail sector over the short and mid-term. Positive economic growth anticipates bullish trends for the AUD, while a low reading is seen as negative or bearish.