SINGAPORE - Retailers in Singapore saw little year-end cheer in November.

Retail sales rose 4.7 per cent in November from a year ago, but without the boost from car sales, they were down 2 per cent, figures from Singapore Department of Statistics showed on Friday (Jan 15).

Vehicle sales also seem to be cooling. They jumped 59.7 per cent year-on-year in November, but this was a deceleration from the 61.8 per cent spike in October. Month-on-month, vehicle sales declined 0.6 per cent, from the 7.9 per cent increase in October.

On a month-on-month basis and seasonally adjusted, November retail sales edged up 1.4 per cent over October. Excluding motor vehicles, they rose 1.9 per cent.

Besides cars, only medical goods & toiletries (+9.6 per cent) and and department stores (+1.3 per cent) saw year-on-year increases in sales.