German retail sales posted a surprise gain in November, largely cancelling out the fall reported in the previous month, data released Friday showed according to dpa. Retail sales rose by 1.2 per cent in November compared with October, the country's statistics office said, as consumers in Europe's biggest economy geared up for the key Christmas shopping period. Analysts had expected a more modest increase of 0.8 per cent after retail sales had slumped by 1.3 per cent in October. Year-on-year, retail sales declined by 0.9 per cent in November. For the full year 2012, the statistics office expects retail sales to fall by between 0.1 and 0.3 per cent.
