Canada December retail sales up 0.9%, sales in January will likely fall

OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada's retail sales in December slightly beat expectations as the holiday season spurred people to spend more for buying cars and clothes and at supermarkets, data showed on Thursday.

Retail sales grew by 0.9% in December on a monthly basis, from a revised nearly flat growth seen in November, Statistics Canada said.

January's retail numbers, which surveys only half of the respondents for a preliminary estimate, showed that sales likely fell by 0.4%, a flash estimate by the statistics agency said.

Analysts had forecast a growth of 0.8% for December and had estimated sales excluding automotive and vehicle parts to be at 0.7%.

Excluding automotive and vehicle parts, which accounts for a quarter of the total sales, retail trade grew by 0.6%, the data showed. December retail sales totaled C$67.3 billion ($49.86 billion) and saw an increase in five out of nine sub sectors.

In volume terms total retail sales grew by 0.8%, StasCan said.

The Canadian dollar marginally strengthened by 0.04% to 1.3500 against the U.S. dollar at 1341 GMT.

($1 = 1.3498 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)