RTTNews reports that according to the report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the total value of retail sales in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent on month in January, coming in at A$30.512 billion. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 0.6 percent following the 4.1 percent decline in December.

Individually, sales were higher for food (1.6 percent), household goods (0.1 percent) and other (1.4 percent). Sales were down for clothing (-3.6 percent), department stores (-0.4 percent) and restaurants (-0.8 percent).