New York, April 5--Chain store retail sales were up slightly on a seasonally-adjusted basis in the latest week, a retail report said on Tuesday.
Sales rose 0.3 percent in the week ended April 2, compared with a 1.0 percent decrease the previous week, the International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS said in a joint report.
Compared with the same week a year ago, sales slowed to a 4.4 percent increase after rising 4.5 percent the preceding week.
"Over this past week, chain-store sales rose slightly on a seasonally-adjusted basis and finished the five-week fiscal month with a moderately positive reading, despite the record high gasoline prices during the week," said Michael Niemira, ICSC's chief economist and director of research.
"With this week's moderate increase, we continue to expect that March sales will increase by 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent," Niemira added.
