Australia Retail Sales Rise More Than Forecast; Dollar Jumps

Australian retail sales advanced more than economists forecast in May on stronger spending at restaurants and department stores, sending the local dollar to a two-month high as traders pared bets on an interest-rate cut.

Sales climbed 0.5 percent to A$21.3 billion ($22 billion) from a month earlier, when they rose a revised 0.1 percent, the fifth straight monthly gain, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney today. Sales in April were previously reported to have dropped 0.2 percent. The May result compares with economists’ forecast in a Bloomberg survey for a 0.2 percent gain.