Retail and residential building figures were stronger than expected in March, but not strong enough to dispel the gloom hanging over the economy.

Retail turnover was up by 0.9 per cent, seasonally adjusted, in March and, after also adjusting for price changes, by 1.8 per cent in the March quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on Monday.

Both rises were more than economists expected, but perhaps the biggest surprise was the implied fall of 0.9 per cent in retail prices in the quarter.

It was the biggest fall in the 20-year history of the figures.

Taking that into account, it would be drawing a long bow to suggest hopes for further interest rate cuts should be lowered, especially as the blips up in retail trade could easily be evidence of nothing more than the volatility inherent in the data.

A similar interpretation can be put on the building approvals data.

The 7.4 per cent rise in residential approvals in March looked strong in isolation, but did not completely reverse the fall to a 33-month low in February.

Weakness in non-residential building approvals also preclude any joy over the building data.

A 23 per cent fall in March after a 53 per cent fall in February unwound the sharp rise in January reflecting public hospital projects in Victoria and South Australia.

The March value of building approvals, residential and non-residential combined, was the lowest since May 2009, when the economy was on its knees and begging for fiscal and monetary stimulus.

The ABS figures confirm the Australian Industry Group-Housing Industry Association survey of the construction sector, published earlier on Monday, showing activity in the sector contracted in April for the 24th consecutive month.