Investing.com - Canadian retail sales fell in December, driven lower by declining gasoline sales, while sales of newly-legalized cannabis made an uneven debut in the country's statistics.
Retail sales fell -0.1% in December from -0.9% in November, Statistics Canada said on Friday. That was largely due to a 3.6% drop in gasoline sales by value, largely a function of lower gas prices. Gasoline sales by volume edged down 0.3%.
Excluding gasoline, retail sales rose by 0.4% on the month. Core retail sales, which excludes automobile sales, fell -0.5%. That follows a downwardly revised -0.7% drop in November.
Cannabis stores registered $151.5 million Canadian dollars in the fourth quarter, following legalization in October 2018. That represents around 0.1% of all retail sales.
"Differences in retail structures in each province and territory affected the availability of cannabis products across the country," the report said.