Rising automotive sales offset declines in most other sectors and drove a modest gain in wholesale trade in November, Statistics Canada reported today.

Wholesale sales increased 0.3% to $43.9 billion in November, similar to the 0.4% rise registered in October.

“The 0.3% growth in the volume of wholesale sales is consistent with our call for November GDP to be up 0.2% in the month and up an annualized 1.5% in the fourth quarter,” wrote Paul Ferley, assistant chief economist at RBC Economics, in a note. “The quarterly gain does represent a slowing from the 2.9% increase recorded in the third quarter.”

A solid 4.7% increase in the automotive sector was the major contributor to the November rise.

Wholesalers outside of this sector fared less well, as sales excluding autos fell 0.6% during the month.

The largest declines came in “other products” (down 2%), building materials (down 1.6%) and food, beverage and tobacco products (down 0.6%).

Preliminary sales figures for the wholesale sector are pointing to another solid year of growth in 2007, with sales in the first 11 months of the year up 5.1% over the same period in 2006.

Sales in constant dollars, which measure the volume of sales by excluding the impact of price changes, also rose by 0.3% in November, indicating that there was no overall price effect on sales.

“With risk of the U.S. economy slipping into recession putting even greater downside pressure on growth going forward, the Bank of Canada is likely to continue to ease policy,” said Ferley.