US wholesale stocks rise more than expected in April

WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) - U.S. wholesale inventories rose a much bigger-than-expected 1.3 percent in April, led by the largest rise in petroleum stocks in more than two years, while wholesale sales increased 1.4 percent, a Commerce Department report showed on Friday.

Wall Street analysts polled by Reuters were expecting inventories to rise just 0.3 percent in April, compared with a 0.1 percent gain in March that was previously reported as a 0.1 percent drop.

The inventory-to-sales ratio, a measure of how long it would take to sell stocks at the current sales pace, decreased to 1.09 months' worth in April from 1.10 months in March.

U.S. petroleum inventories rose 8.8 percent in April, the largest month-to-month gain since 17.1 percent in January 2006. The jump came after a 4.5 percent drop in petroleum stocks in March, previously reported as a 5.6 percent decline.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)