China's retail sales up 4.6 pct in August

BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of consumption strength, went up 4.6 percent year on year in August, accelerating from the 2.5-percent increase in July, official data showed Friday.

The retail sales totaled 3.79 trillion yuan (about 527.96 billion U.S. dollars) last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). In the first eight months, the figure increased 7 percent from a year earlier.

The recovery of the consumer market picked up pace with rapid growth in service consumption, the NBS said in a statement.