Canada September factory sales up by 0.2 percent on autos, parts

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian factory sales edged up by 0.2 percent in September from August on higher shipments of autos as production ramped up after a series of assembly plant shutdowns, Statistics Canada said on Friday. Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast a 0.3 percent gain. Statscan revised August's decline to 0.5 percent from an initial 0.4 percent. Sales were up in eight of 21 industries, representing 48.5 percent of total manufacturing sales. Higher sales of autos and motor vehicle parts helped push up the transportation sector by 3.1 percent but this was partially offset by a 6.2 percent drop in sales in the machinery industry after four consecutive monthly increases. Wood product sales fell by 2.9 percent, the fourth decline in a row, on lower demand and lower prices. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Andrea Ricci)