The data released by the Canadian Statistics Office on Friday indicated a negative trend in the country's retail sales for September, as retail sales in Canada recorded a month-on-month growth of 0.4%, which was lower than market expectations that anticipated growth of around 0.5%. The previous reading had recorded a contraction of 0.5% in August.

On the other hand, the core retail sales index - excluding automobile sales - recorded a contraction of 0.7% during September, which was worse than market expectations that indicated growth of 0.3%. The previous reading had recorded a growth in retail sales of 0.3% during August, after being revised down from a growth of 0.4%.

It is noteworthy that this index measures the change in the total value of inflation-adjusted sales at the retail level. Additionally, this index is a measure of the value of goods sold by retailers based on a sample of retail stores of various types and sizes, and the data includes all sales made through the internet.