Retail sales show signs of growth.

 

Australian retail sales improved for a third straight month in October as tax cuts flowed through to wage packets and consumers became more confident that interest rates would not increase again, although policy easing still looked distant.

 

Big four bank NAB expects another strong increase for retail sales in November.

 

NAB transaction data shows more than two-thirds of Black Friday sales were made in-store across the four-day Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping period.

 

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) earlier this week showed retail sales rose 0.6 per cent in October from September, when they grew a meagre 0.1 per cent. 

 

Sales were up 3.4 per cent on a year earlier at $36.7 billion with the ABS noting some retailers had taken to discounting early ahead of the November Black Friday events.

 

"After a steady result last month retailers told us that sales activity grew in October ahead of the Black Friday sales," Robert Ewing, head of business statistics at the ABS, said.

 

"The rise in discretionary spending was driven by online discounting events while people also spent more on electrical goods, particularly televisions and other audio-visual equipment."

 

The outlook for sales has been helped in part by a slowdown in inflation and the large cuts to income taxes. Consumer sentiment, in particular, jumped for a second straight month in November and reached a  two-and-half-year high.