Johannesburg - South Africa's retail sales rose 2.4% year-on-year in July, above market expectations and compared with a 0.9% contraction in June.
READ: Retail sales flat at 0.0%
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales would increase by just 0.3% compared with the same month last year.
On a month-on-month basis, sales were up 1.2%, and rose 1.4% in the three months to July compared with the same period in 2013.