Annual retail sales in the 12-nation euro zone grew faster than expected in March, led by strong growth in Portugal, Belgium, Spain and France, in what economists saw as a sign consumer demand could be picking up.
European Union's statistics office (Eurostat) said today retail sales rose 1.4 per cent year-on-year in March after rising a downwardly revised 0.8 per cent in February with growth driven equally by food, drink and tobacco and non-food products.
"It shows that consumer demand is still doing reasonably OK," said Juergen Michels, economist at Citigroup.
"If we look at consumer sentiment, it was edging up in April, so it seems that the situation in the consumer sector is gradually picking up," he said.
After a decline to, 14 points in March from, 13 points in the previous six months, the consumer confidence indicator published by the European Commission edged back to,13 in April.
The volume of retail sales was 0.3 per cent higher in March than in February, beating the consensus forecast of a 0.3 per cent month-on-month decline.
The March rise takes the total retail trade index to levels last seen at the beginning of 2004 after a steady increase since September last year.