Euro zone retail sales rose slightly more than expected in annual terms in February and January's figure was revised upwards, data showed today, but economists said momentum remained limited.
European Union statistics office Eurostat said retail sales in the 13 countries using the euro rose 0.3 per cent month-on-month and 1.2 per cent year-on-year.
Eurostat also revised upwards data for January to a 0.8 per cent monthly decline from a 1 per cent fall, and a 1.1 per cent year-on-year rise from a 0.1 per cent dip.
"The figures look rather insipid and leave us with an expansion in retail sales in the euro zone but it's a very lacklustre one," said Ken Wattret, economist at BNP Paribas.
Retail sales are a good indication of household demand, which has been slowly picking up along with falling unemployment amid an economic upswing.
The strength of consumer demand is important for the European Central Bank in determining how far interest rates should go up to stem inflationary pressures from fast credit growth and the tightening labour market.
"Consumer spending across the euro zone has firmed overall in recent months, helped by significantly improving labour markets across the euro zone," said Howard Archer, economist at Global Insight.
"Nevertheless, consumer spending is still somewhat fragile in a number of countries and its upside may remain limited as purchasing power is held down by relatively modest real wage growth and rising interest rates," he said.
"In addition, there is still significant uncertainty over how much German consumer spending will be affected over the next few months by January's 3 percentage point rise in sales tax."
The annual rise, according to available data, was driven mainly by Finland and Spain, where sales rose 6.6 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively. German sales fell 1.7 per cent after a 1.9 per cent decline in January.