S'pore retail sales skid on plunge in car sales

[SINGAPORE] Singapore's retail sales fell a larger- than-expected 8.7 per cent in November compared to a year ago, mainly due to a 41.8 per cent drop in motor vehicle sales.

Stripping out sales of motor vehicles, however, retail sales went up by 0.4 per cent, said the Department of Statistics yesterday.

The data fell short of economists' expectations; the median estimate of 10 forecasts submitted to Bloomberg was for an 8 per cent year-on-year decline in retail sales. Excluding motor vehicles, private-sector economists had forecast retail sales to rise by 0.6 per cent.