China Retail Sales YoY

China's retail sales increased by 4.6% year-on-year in August 2023, quickening from a 2.5% growth in the prior month and exceeding market estimates of 3.0%. It was the largest increase in the pace of trade since May, boosted by rises in sales of clothes, shoes, hats, and textiles (4.5% vs 2.3% in July), furniture (4.8% vs 0.1%), communications equipment (8.5% vs 3.0%), cosmetics (9.7% vs -4.1%), gold, silver and jewelry (7.2% vs -10.0%), personal care (1.5% vs -1.0%), oil products (6.0% vs -0.6%), and automobiles (1.1% vs -1.5%). By contrast, sales continued to fall for home appliances (-2.9% vs -5.5%), office supplies (-8.4% vs -13.1%), and building materials (-11.4% vs -11.2%). For the first eight months of the year, retail trade rose by 7.0%.