Japan Retail Sales Rise 0.5% In January

(RTTNews) - The value of retail sales in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent on month in January, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Friday - coming in at 13.623 billion yen.

That was in line with expectations following the 0.8 percent decline in December.

On a yearly basis, sales were up 3.9 percent - again matching forecasts and up from 3.5 percent in the previous month.

Large scale retail sales were up 0.5 percent on month and 4.0 percent on year after slipping 0.8 percent on month and rising 3.0 percent on year in December.