Retail sales could decline 2.2%: Standard Chartered

No thanks to falling vehicle sales.

The Department of Statistics (SingStat) will release October retail sales data on 12 December.

Standard Chartered (SC) expects headline retail sales to have fallen for the second consecutive month, by 0.1% YoY.

New vehicle registrations barely rose by 0.5% YoY. Vehicle quota premiums fell hard by 14% YoY.

SC Singapore ASEAN Economic Research head Edward Lee commented, "We maintain our cautious outlook on the domestic retail sector as labour-market metrics remain soft; however, the sector may be showing signs of a turnaround."

SC also expects retail sales ex-autos to fall to 2.2% YoY from 3.3% in September.

On the upside, luxury goods item sales likely continued to support headline retail sales growth, particularly on robust exports of Swiss watches to Singapore in September-October.

Sales at petrol service stations may have continued to support retail sales growth as domestic fuel prices rose c.9.9% YoY.