Investing.com - Core retail sales in Canada fell unexpectedly in August, while total retail sales figures also declined, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, Statistics Canada said core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, dropped up by a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in August, disappointing expectations for a 0.3% increase.
Core sales fell by 0.5% in July, whose figure was revised from a previously reported decline of 0.6%.
Total retail sales decreased by a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in August, compared to forecasts for a 0.2% gain, after falling by 0.1% in July.
This second consecutive monthly decrease follows gains in the six previous months. Sales were down in 7 of 11 subsectors, representing 76% of retail trade.
USD/CAD was trading at 1.1263 from around 1.1220 ahead of the release of the data.