China's retail sales up 5.1 pct in April

BEIJING, May 19 (Xinhua) -- China's retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of the country's consumption strength, expanded 5.1 percent year on year in April, official data showed Monday.

Total retail sales of consumer goods reached 3.72 trillion yuan (about 517.27 billion U.S. dollars) last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

From January to April, the retail sales of consumer goods rose 4.7 percent year on year, accelerating from the 4.6-percent growth in the first three months, according to the NBS.