Canadian retail sales grew less than expected in April as increased spending on new vehicles, electronics and appliances were offset by a decline in gasoline prices and lower clothing sales.

The value of sales edged up 0.1% to 39.52 billion Canadian dollars ($38.10 billion) from an unrevised flat reading in March, Statistics Canada said Friday.

Sales excluding vehicles and auto parts shrank unexpectedly by 0.3% to C$30.46 billion, the same as the prior month, which was revised down from the originally estimated 0.2% drop.

The consensus call was for overall sales to grow 0.2% and the ex-auto figure to be flat, according to a report from Royal Bank of Canada.

Sales volume, which feeds into the calculation of economic growth for the month presented a brighter picture, growing 0.5%.