Canada November retail sales down 0.2% on groceries; seen up 0.8% in December

Jan 19 (Reuters) - Canadian retail sales fell by 0.2% in November from October at C$66.61 billion ($49.36 billion), led by decreases at food and beverage retailers, as well as general merchandise stores, Statistics Canada said on Friday. Sales were likely up 0.8% in December, the agency said in a flash estimate.

In November, sales were down in four of nine subsectors, representing 43.5% of retail trade. In volume terms, retail sales decreased 0.2%.

(Percent changes) Nov Nov Oct(rev) Oct(prev)

mo/mo yr/yr mo/mo mo/mo

Total -0.2 +1.8 +0.5 +0.7

Excluding autos/parts -0.5 +0.1 +0.4 +0.6

NOTE: All figures are seasonally adjusted. Analysts surveyed by Reuters forecast November retail sales to be unchanged, and to be down 0.1% excluding autos.

($1=$1.3494 Canadian)

(Reporting by Dale Smith)

Keywords: CANADA ECONOMY/RETAIL