Retail spending in Australia rises in November

December 20th, 2011 - 3:15 pm ICT by IANS  

Sydney, Dec 20 (IANS) Retail spending in Australia rose in November, according to a survey released Tuesday by Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).

The Commonwealth Bank Business Sales Indicator (BSI) rose by 0.3 percent in trend terms in November, following a 0.4 percent rise in October and a 0.2 percent lift in September, reported Xinhua.

The BSI is a key measure of economy-wide spending, tracking the value of credit and debit card transactions processed through Commonwealth Bank point-of-sale terminals.

The BSI recorded rises in spending in all states in November, with the Northern Territory recording the strongest result, rising by 0.4 percent, while New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia all rose by 0.3 percent and Queensland rose by 0.1 percent.

CBA’s local business banking executive general manager Matt Comyn said that the rise in spending was good news but overall consumer attitude was still cautious.

“The fact that consumers are more willing to spend now than they were earlier this year is a positive sign, particularly for this time of year,” he said.

The survey comes after several retailers including JB Hi-Fi and Billabong forecast a decline in earnings for the first half because of poorer than expected sales.

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