WASHINGTON - US RETAIL sales rose for the second consecutive month in June, by 0.6 per cent, Commerce Department data showed on Tuesday in a report stronger than expected.

Most analysts had expected a monthly increase of 0.4 per cent.

The Commerce Department left unchanged May's 0.5 per cent increase in retail sales from April.

The monthly retail sales data signal the direction of consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of output in the world's largest economy.

Excluding gasoline and motor vehicle and parts sales, retail sales fell for the fourth consecutive month, by 0.2 per cent, after a 0.1 per cent decline in May.

Gasoline sales led the rise in overall retail sales, surging 5.0 per cent from May as prices at the pump increase. Automobile and parts sales rose 2.3 per cent in June, after a 0.5 per cent gain in May.

On an annual basis, retail sales were 9.0 per cent below the June 2008 level.

Amid a severe recession, retail sales have increased in only four of the past 12 months as wary consumers snap their wallets shut in the face of rising unemployment and falling home values.

'Retail sales in June took on a positive tone for the second consecutive month in aggregate, although the continued weakness in core sales dampened the positive message that the data convey,' said Scott Hoyt of Moody's Economy.com.

'The bottom line, however, remains that sales are trending about flat. This is a dramatic improvement from the steady large declines of the second half of last year and encouraging in the face ongoing declines in employment and aggregate wage income.' -- AFP