January retail sales beat expectations with 7.5% rise

Singapore

Boosted by car sales and pre-Chinese New Year shopping, Singapore's retail sales climbed 7.5 per cent in January - streaking past expectations for a more moderate year-on-year increase of 3.1 per cent.

Even if the surge in car sales were to be stripped out, retail sales would still have posted a rise of 1.4 per cent, said the Department of Statistics (DOS) on Tuesday.

January's performance far outstripped market forecasts; those polled by Bloomberg prior to the data release had been expecting ex-auto retail sales to actual…