Canadian retail sales took an unexpected jump in September, marking their largest advance since November 2010 and fuelling more speculation that the economy will likely show solid growth for the third quarter of the year.

Retail sales rose one per cent to $38.2 billion during the month, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday, with sales growth at most store types. It was the fifth increase in six months.

“This is a much better than expected retail sales report with headline sales rising at twice as fast a pace as that which was expected while core sales posted a further 0.5% print,” Scotia Capital economist Derek Holt said in a note to clients.

“With all of our observable leading indicators now in place, we are looking for a pretty decent gain in September real GDP as an increase in housing, price-adjusted retail sales and manufacturing shipments outweigh a decline in real wholesale sales and hours worked.”

However, Holt noted, most of the growth came from gas and motor vehicle sales. Excluding those components, retail sales were up 0.4%.

Statistics Canada said sales by volume rose 0.6%. Nine of 11 subsectors reported gains, representing 90% of retail sales.

Motor vehicle and parts dealers (up 2.8%) registered the largest increase in sales, with new-car dealers (up 3.7) accounting for most of the gain.

“Autos were a big part of the story… however, electronics, building materials, gasoline station, clothing stores and sporting goods stores also posted hefty gains — suggesting that the back-to-school season in Canada did a bit better than most analysts had been expecting,” wrote economist Emanuella Enenajor of CIBC World Markets.

“The 0.6% lift to volumes suggests that third-quarter GDP could come in around 3.2% or so, aided by accelerating consumption, but mostly due to a surge in exports.”

Higher prices contributed to a third consecutive monthly increase in sales at gasoline stations, up 0.8% in September.

General merchandise store sales advanced 0.7%, the eighth increase in nine months, while sales at clothing and clothing accessories stores rose one per cent.

Electronics and appliance stores reported a sales gain of 1.2%, following three monthly decreases.

Health and personal-care store sales declined 0.4% in September.

Retail sales increased in all provinces in September. Nova Scotia (up 2.4%) reported the largest percentage sales increase.