Brazil Retail Sales Flat In March

(RTTNews) - Brazil's retail sales remained unchanged unexpectedly in March after rising in the previous two months, figures from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, showed on Wednesday.

Retail sales showed a stagnant change in March after rising 1.0 percent in February. Meanwhile, economists had expected a 0.1 percent decrease.

The volume of sales of pharmaceutical articles, medicine, and perfumery rose 1.4 percent monthly in March, while those of equipment and materials for offices, IT, and communication fell by 8.7 percent. Sales of fuels and lubricants alone dropped by 0.6 percent.

On a yearly basis, retail sales growth eased to 5.7 percent in March from 8.1 percent a month ago. The expected increase was 5.2 percent.