Italy retail sales rise 1.9% m/m in May

(Reuters) - Italian retail sales rose 1.9% in May from the month before, data showed on Monday, after a 0.3% increase in April.

National statistics institute ISTAT marginally revised up April's data from an originally reported 0.0% data.

Sales rose 7.0% in unadjusted year-on-year terms in May, ISTAT said.

The data are expressed in value terms and are not adjusted for consumer prices, which increased 7.3% in May from the year earlier, based on Italy's EU-harmonised index (HICP).

ISTAT gave the following data:

MAY APR MAR

Mth/Mth change* +1.9 +0.3r 0.0r

Yr/yr change** +7.0 +8.3r +5.6

Food sales (m/m) +1.4 +0.6r +0.1r

Non-food sales (m/m) +2.4 0.0r -0.2r

*seasonally adjusted

**unadjusted

r=revised

(Reporting by Luca Fratangelo, editing by Valentina Consiglio)