STOCKHOLM (REUTERS) - Hennes & Mauritz, better known as H&M, the world's second-biggest fashion retailer, reported on Monday a 16 per cent year-on-year rise in July sales in local currencies, above expectations.

It was the 10th consecutive month of double-digit growth.

The mean forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts had been for a 12 per cent rise in July, the second month of its fiscal third quarter.