By CountingPips.com
Canadian Retail Sales increased by more than expected in June according to the monthly report released by Statistics Canada today. Retail sales increased by 1.0 percent to C$34.4 billion in June following a revised decrease of 1.1 percent in May. The rise in retail sales surpassed 
economic forecasts that were predicting only a 0.1 percent increase for the month.
Core retail sales, excluding automobile sales, also advanced by 1.0 percent in June following a revised decline of 0.6 percent in May. The gain in core sales surpassed forecasts that were expecting a 0.2 percent increase.
Contributing to the rise in the retail sales numbers was an increase in the automotive sector by 2.1 percent with gasoline station sales increasing by 4.7 percent for the month. The food and beverages stores sector saw a 1.3 percent rise while furniture, home furnishings & electronic stores increased by 0.6 percent and pharmacies and personal care stores advanced by 0.8 percent. Negatively contributing to the monthly retail sales were decreases in general merchandise stores and in building & outdoor home supplies stores.
Canadian Loonie rises in Currency Trading.
The Canadian loonie dollar has been stronger today in the currency markets versus the major currencies after the higher retail sales data. The Canadian currency has increased versus the euro, British pound, U.S. dollar, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar while trading almost unchanged versus the Japanese yen.
The U.S. dollar has declined today against the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD pair trades at the 1.0743 in the US session at 11:39am EST. The USD/CAD opened the day trading at 1.0790 at 00:00GMT according to currency data by Oanda.
The euro has decreased against the loonie as the EUR/CAD trades at the 1.5380 level after opening the day at 1.5469. The loonie has traded almost unchanged versus the Japanese yen as the CAD/JPY trades at the rate of 87.99 yen per loonie level after opening the day at 87.92.
The British pound has fallen versus the loonie today as the GBP/CAD trades at the 1.7627 level after opening the day at 1.7829.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars have also lost ground today versus the Canadian currency as the AUD/CAD trades at 0.9131 after opening at 0.9057 while the NZD/CAD trades at 0.7386 after opening the day at 0.7397.
EUR/CAD Chart – The Euro falling versus the Canadian Dollar today in Currency Trading today (1-hour chart).
