Retail sales in Australia come in below expectations, recording the lowest growth rate in 5 months.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics released data on retail sales in the country for the month of September early Thursday morning, which came in negative and below market expectations.

According to the released data, retail sales in Australia recorded a monthly growth of 0.1% during September, marking the lowest growth rate in retail sales in the country in 5 months. This was lower than market expectations, which predicted a growth of about 0.3%. Australia had previously seen an increase in retail sales of approximately 0.7% in August.

It is noteworthy that this indicator measures the change in the overall value of retail sales within Australia, which reflects on economic activity and inflation. A better-than-expected reading of the index positively affects the movements of the Australian dollar, as the retail sales index is a preliminary measure of consumer spending data, which represents the majority of economic activity in Australia.