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TORONTO, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Canadian retail sales rose for the fourth consecutive month in August as solid furniture sales helped offset a slump in car purchases, but sales adjusted for inflation actually fell, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.
Retail sales rose by 0.3 percent from July, following a revised July jump of 1.0 percent. In constant dollars, August's sales were down 0.1 percent; consumers faced a 9.0 percent jump in gasoline prices.
The July rise in retail sales was revised up from 0.8 percent.
"I think a lot of the bad economic data that we saw in August will get reversed in September and you'll continue to see gains in the consumer come September," said Scott Kinnear, an economist with MMS International.
August's figure exceeded many analysts' expectations -- a Reuters survey of economists showed a median forecast for a drop of 0.1 percent -- though predictions ranged as high as a gain of 0.4 percent.
Statscan said furniture sales rose 2.3 percent from July, marking its second largest monthly sales gain since January, benefiting largely from a strong housing market.
Motor vehicle sales fell by 1.3 percent, and drug and clothing stores also saw declines, while general merchandise sales rose 0.9 percent and food up by 0.9 percent.
The retail numbers helped pushed the Canadian dollar to near-10-year highs, according to Reuters data.
Ontario retail sales declined by 0.2 percent, after a 1.4 percent increase in July, as the province was struck by a blackout. Some experts said the decline was minimal considering some stores were left without power for days.
"The lights went out but they they obviously did not go out on the shoppers," said Andrew Pyle, senior financial markets analyst at Scotia Capital. "So the blackout did not have the impact on retail sales that the ice storms did in January."
Looking ahead to September, Statistics Canada noted that employment rose 0.3 percent in the month, housing starts remained high though down 1.1 percent from August and new motor vehicle sales were estimated to have declined by 2 percent.
(Additional reporting by Randall Palmer in Ottawa)
($1=$1.31 Canadian)