KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 8): Malaysia’s wholesale and retail sales growth moderated and rose 5.4% year-on-year in June, led by retail sales in specialised stores and wholesale of agricultural raw materials and live animals, official data on Thursday showed.

Wholesale and retail trade totalled RM146.0 billion in June, the Department of Statistics Malaysia said in a statement. The pace of sales growth was slower than the 7.1% increase in May. On a month-on-month basis, distributive trade declined 1.3% in June.

The retail sector rose 7.9% to RM64.1 billion followed by the wholesale segment, which expanded 4% to RM64.9 billion. Sales of motor vehicles, meanwhile, was up 2% to RM17 billion in June.

The year-on-year increase in retail sales was mainly led by retail sales in specialised stores which grew 12.6%. The rise in wholesale, meanwhile, was driven by wholesale of agricultural raw materials and live animals which gained 7.9%.

In the motor vehicle segment, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles surged 10% while vehicle sales declined 3.4%.

On a month-on-month basis, retail sales was 0.2% higher though wholesale trade slipped 0.3% and the motor vehicle sector fell 9.4%.

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