South Africa retail sales rise in November on Black Friday boost

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South African consumers opened their wallets in November as Black Friday sales and online specials spurred demand for clothes, electronics and furniture, a sign consumption was starting to pick up despite rising interest rates and high inflation.

Data from Statistics South Africa on Wednesday showed retail sales rose 0.4% year on year in November after falling by a revised 0.7% in October.

That was a surprise rise compared to the average forecast of economists polled by Reuters for a 0.2% drop.

The resilience of spending was in line with inflation figures that point to a gradual easing of price pressures in Africa's most industrialised economy.

On a month-on-month basis, sales were up 1.1% in November.

Sales in the three months to the end of November were down 0.2% compared with the same period last year, the statistics agency said.

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla and Alexander WinningEditing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo)