Retail sales rose 0.8% in February, up 0.1% from the unexpected downturn in January and well above the expected 0.2%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics announced Wednesday.
The data is the best performance since November 2017, and retail sales in food, department stores and household goods are generally doing well.
"This very strong result convinces the RBA that household spending may rebound in the first quarter of 2019," said Kaixin Owyong, an economist at the National Bank of Australia in Sydney.
"Prices may have had an impact -- food sales are exceptionally strong -- but these data provide room for the RBA to stay put."
Consumer spending has been a major concern of the RBA over the past year, as high debt levels, slow wage growth and a once-booming housing market slump have hit household spending.
The data provided much-needed confidence in Australian household spending, pushing the Australian dollar up more than $0.0033 to $0.7100 against the dollar, AUD = D3. The Australian dollar recently rose 0.3% to $0.7093.
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