Cars a big drag as March retail sales fall 3.9%

[SINGAPORE] Retail sales fell for the second consecutive month, declining 3.9 per cent year-on-year in March, according to data released by the Department of Statistics yesterday.

However, stripping out the sales of motor vehicles - which were down 19.3 per cent from March 2013 - sales still experienced a slight contraction, edging down 0.4 per cent.

This follows a slump of 9.5 per cent year-on-year in February, although that was distorted by base effects from the Chinese New Year holidays which fell in February in 2013.