Japan Retail Sales Climb 3.3% On Year In April

(RTTNews) - The value of retail sales in Japan was up 3.3 percent on year in April, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Friday - coming in at 12.925 trillion yen.

That beat forecasts for n increase of 2.9 percent and was up from 3.1 percent in March.

Commercial sales were down 0.1 percent on month and up 2.0 percent on year at 52.687 trillion yen, while wholesale sales fell 0.7 percent on month but gained 1.4 percent on year to 39.762 trillion yen.

Large retailer sales were up 0.5 percent on month and 3.0 percent on year after slipping 1.2 percent on month and rising 3.0 percent on year in March.