January retail sales fell back only slightly from the previous month’s high, despite a downturn in sales of automobiles and gasoline, Statistics Canada said today.

Total retail sales fell 0.2% in January to an estimated $33.4 billion, mainly due to the 2.4% sales decline in the automotive sector. Excluding the automotive sector, retail sales rose by 0.9%.

StatsCan noted the automotive and non-automotive sectors have bucked trends in recent years, contributing about the same to overall annual growth as sales growth in the non-automotive sectors averaged 5.6% in the past five years while overall retail sales growth averaged 5.4%.

Partially offsetting the January decline in the automotive sector were widespread gains in all other sectors: there were strong sales increases in furniture, home furnishings and electronic stores (up 2.1%), clothing and accessories stores (1.6%) and pharmacies and personal-care stores (1.5%).

There were moderate increases in general merchandise stores (up one%), building and outdoor home supplies stores (also up one%), miscellaneous retailers (0.8), and food-and-beverage stores (0.1).

Separately, the government agency said the composite index rose 0.7% in February, topping its 0.5% gain at the start of the year.

Growth was led by a pickup in new orders for manufactured goods and continued strong consumer spending and financial markets. Only 1 of the 10 components fell in both January and February.

However, housing retreated sharply in February, as a return to seasonable winter conditions followed the unusually balmy conditions that had boosted starts and sales in the previous two months.

Financial market conditions continued to improve as the stock market hit new highs early in the new year, before its recent slip, while firms planned to spend 5% more in 2007, their fourth straight year of strong growth.

New orders for durable manufactured goods jumped 1.8%, their largest monthly advance in over two years.

The U.S. leading indicator rose 0.2%, continuing its gradual recovery from declines in the second half of 2006.