Retail sales in the euro zone were flat in December, contrary to market expectations of a gain, Eurostat statistics office data showed today.
Analysts had expected a rise of 0.4% in December after a revised 0.5% fall in November. For the 19 members of the 27-nation European Union for which figures were available, retail sales were down 0.1% from November, according to Eurostat.
The strongest sales gain was recorded in Austria, up 1.64%, while the worst performance was in Romania, where sales were down 5.7% followed by Malta, down 5.6%.
Compared with December 2008, retail sales fell 1.6% in the euro zone and 1% in the wider European Union.
