Bargain hunters boost French summer sales

PARIS Aug 3 (Reuters) - French shoppers lured by bargain prices for clothes, shoes and other apparel helped boost summer sales by 5 percent compared with last year, officials said on Tuesday.

Aided by sweltering weather and a recovery in the euro currency, consumers were attracted by deep discounts ranging from 30 to 90 percent offered by shops in the five-week sales period between June and July, the commerce ministry said in a statement. It did not give further details.

Though consumer spending, the motor of France's roughly 1.9 trillion euro economy, fell unexpectedly in June, the summer sales figures could boost the data for the months ahead. [ID:nLDE66M0DC]

France's Commerce Secretary Herve Novelli said summer sales figures in 2010 will be better than 2009 and pre-crisis 2008 as consumers timidly return to spending more despite lingering concerns over unemployment.

French consumer confidence in July remained stable near historically low levels, while business confidence recovered to its highest level since July 2008. [ID:nLDE66L0M2] (Reporting by Bate Felix; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)