The volume of retail trade in the euro zone rebounded by 0.2 percent in April, compared with the previous month, the European Union (EU)'s statistics bureau Eurostat said on Thursday.

It beat expectations of economists, who had predicted a decline of 0.2 percent, and ended declines in four consecutive months.

In April, "food, drinks and tobacco" gained 1.1 percent on monthly basis in the 16 EU nations that use the euro, while the non food sector declined by 0.2 percent.

Year on year, the eurozone retail sales dropped by 2.3 percent in April, with food, drinks and tobacco down by 1.2 percent and the non food sector down by 2.5 percent.

In the 27-nation EU, retail sales rose by 0.5 percent from the previous month and dropped by 1.4 percent against a year ago.

Among the member states for which data were available, total retail trade rose in ten, fell in six and remained stable in Denmark on the monthly basis. The highest increase was observed in Finland, which was 7.6 percent, while the largest decrease was in Romania, down by 1.0 percent.

Retail sales are an indication of household demand, one of the three major economic drivers. The rebound of the index, following continuous declines, implied that European economy may be getting out of the worst.

Source:Xinhua