Canada June retail sales up for sixth straight month

Reuters
People walk past a store of yogawear retailer Lululemon Athletica in downtown Vancouver June 11, 2014. REUTERS/Ben Nelms

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Consumers once again bolstered the Canadian economy in June, with retail sales rising for the sixth straight month, by a stronger-than-expected 1.1 percent to a new record, according to Statistics Canada data released on Friday. The median forecast in a Reuters survey of analysts had been for only a 0.3 percent rise. Statscan also revised May's increase to 0.9 percent from 0.7 percent. The volume of sales, which is adjusted for price and is relevant for calculating real growth in gross domestic product, rose by 0.6 percent. The stretched household sector has been mainly responsible for growth in recent years, with the Bank of Canada hoping that the drivers of growth will rotate to exports and business investment - a rotation that has been slow to materialize. The first six months of 2014 showed sales 4.7 percent higher than in the same period in 2013. (Reporting by Randall Palmer; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)