Canada August factory sales up 1.5% on metals, chemicals

Oct 15 (Reuters) — Canadian factory sales grew by 1.5% in August from July on higher sales of primary metals, as well as chemicals, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, manufacturing sales were up 2.1%. Month/month change (%) Aug Jul(rev) Jul(prev) Sales +1.5 -0.3 -0.4 Sales ex-autos +2.1 -0.4 -0.5 Inventories +0.2 +0.4 +0.3 Unfilled orders 0.0 +1.3 +1.9 New orders -0.7 -0.5 +0.7 Aug Jul(rev) Jul(prev) Inv/sales ratio 1.60 1.62 1.62 NOTE: All figures are seasonally adjusted. Analysts surveyed by Reuters forecast manufacturing sales to increase 1.1% in August from July. (Reporting by Dale Smith; editing by Promit Mukherjee) ((promit.mukherjee@tr.com) Keywords: CANADA ECONOMY/MANUFACTURING