The Australian Retails Sales have landed with a mixed picture. "The slow wages growth and soft consumer sentiment even with the RBA rate cut suggest another underwhelming month," analysts at Westpac explained.

For Q2 inflation-adjusted sales, they looked for a 0.3%qtr rise, in line with consensus. "This compares to -0.1%qtr in Q1 but bear in mind that the retail sales survey captures only a portion of total household spending – the national accounts estimate of private consumption was +0.3%."

The data arrived as follows:

Australian Retail Sales (MoM) Jun: 0.4% (exp 0.3%; prev 0.1%).

Retail Sales ex inflation (QoQ) Q2: 0.2% (exp 0.3%; prev -0.1%).

About the 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.

Source: FXstreet