BEIJING — China's retail sales of consumer goods went up 5 percent year-on- year to 3.95 trillion yuan (about $603.7 billion) in November, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Dec 15.

The growth picked up from the 4.3-percent gain in October, sustaining the upward momentum since the major consumption gauge posted its first positive growth this year in August.

Excluding auto consumption, retail sales went up 4.2 percent year-on-year last month.

In the first 11 months, retail sales went down 4.8 percent year-on-year, with the decline narrowing by 1.1 percentage points from the drop in the January-October period.

Online consumption remained a bright spot, with online retail sales rising 11.5 percent year-on-year in the January-November period.