— Japan Feb Retail Sales +0.1% Y/Y Vs Jan +0.1%
— Japan Feb Retail Sales Beat MNI Poll Median Forecast -0.5%
— Japan Feb Retail Sales Post 10th Y/Y Rise in Past 12 Months
— Japan Feb Retail Auto Sales -16.5% Y/Y Vs Jan -19.4%
— Japan Feb Retail Machinery Sales -4.7% Y/Y Vs Jan -9.1%
— Japan Feb Retail Fuel Sales +7.3% Y/Y Vs Jan +11.9%

TOKYO (MNI) – Japanese retail sales rose slightly from a year
earlier for the second straight months in February, thanks to higher
spending on gasoline and heating oil, data from the Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry released on Tuesday showed.

Retail sales rose 0.1% last month from a year earlier after rising
at the same rate in January and falling 2.1% in December. It was the
10th year-on-year gain in the past 12 months.

The February figure came in much stronger than the median forecast
for a 0.5% drop in a Market News International survey of economists.

Automobile sales fell 16.5% year-on-year in February, the fifth
consecutive y/y fall (-19.4% in January, -24.3% in December, -26.6% in
November and -23.9% in October), after the government ended subsidies
for buying fuel-efficient vehicles in September.

In addition, sales of machinery and equipment including consumer
electronics fell 4.7%, marking the third consecutive y/y drop, after
showing a 9.1% fall in January.

Consumers had rushed to retail stores to buy TVs and other
electronics before Dec. 1, when the government slashed reward points for
its program aimed at encouraging purchases of TVs, refrigerators and air
conditioners/heaters that require less power to operate.

Meanwhile, fuel sales rose 7.3% from a year earlier in February,
marking the 15th consecutive y/y rise, on rising gasoline and heating
oil prices. The pace of y/y gains slowed from a 11.9% rise in January.
The average regular gasoline price stood at Y138 in February, higher
than Y129 a year earlier, according to the Oil Information Center.

Retail sales have recovered from -5.7% in February 2009, which was
the largest y/y drop in seven years. In January 2010, retail sales rose
2.3%, the first y/y gain in 17 months and have risen every month since.

Other details from the latest data:

Commercial sales, or combined sales at the wholesale and retail
levels (y/y): February +5.5%, the 12th consecutive y/y rise, following
+3.3% in January and recovering from the record drop of -24.3% marked in
May 2009.

Sales at the wholesale level (y/y): February +7.5%, the seventh
consecutive y/y rise after +4.6% in January and recovering from the
record fall of -30.3% hit in May 2009.

Large retail store sales on a same-store adjusted basis (y/y):
February +0.5%, the first rise in three months, following a -0.7% in
January.

Large retail store sales, unadjusted (y/y): February +1.0%, the
first rise in three months, after -0.6% in January.

tokyo@marketnews.com
** Market News International Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4835 **

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