By CountingPips.com
Economic news out of Canada today showed that retail sales increased by much more than expected in November and helped boost the loonie versus the US dollar in forex trading. Canadian retail sales increased by 1.3 percent to a C$37.3 billion total in November after an increase of 1.0 percent in October, according to the report by Statistics Canada. This was the sixth consecutive month of advance for Canadian retail sales.
The rise in sales was more than expected as economic forecasts were predicting a 0.4 percent increase for the month. On an annual basis, November’s retail sales level was 
5.3 percent higher than the November 2009 level.
Core retail sales, excluding automobile sales, climbed by 1.0 percent in November following a gain of 0.9 percent in October. The rise in core sales also easily surpassed forecasts that were expecting a 0.4 percent increase for the month.
Contributing to the gain in the retail sales numbers was an increase in motor vehicle and parts dealer sales by 2.7 percent in November with new car dealer sales rising by 3.6 percent. Also contributing positively to the report were gains in food & beverage stores (+0.8%), gasoline station sales (+2.4%), health & personal care stores (+1.8%) and clothing & accessories stores (+2.4%).
Canadian Loonie stronger in Forex Trading versus USD, JPY
The Canadian loonie dollar has been stronger today in the currency markets after the retail sales data with gains against the US dollar and the Japanese yen.
The Canadian currency is trading virtually unchanged or has made slight gains versus the euro, British pound, New Zealand dollar and Australian dollar, according to currency data from Oanda.
USD/CAD 1-Hour Chart – The U.S. dollar has fallen today against the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD pair trades around the 0.9920 level early in the US session. The USD/CAD had been on the rise for three consecutive days before today’s turnaround and now trades right at the 200-hour moving average (red line).
