NEW ZEALAND RETAIL SALES SLOW IN JANUARY Seasonally adjusted retail sales rose by 0.1 pct in January, compared with increases of 5.7 pct in December and 1.0 pct a year earlier, the Statistics Department said. It said in a statement actual retail sales fell to 1.87 billion N.Z. Dlrs in January against 2.42 billion a month earlier and compared with 1.78 billion in January 1986. Year-on-year retail sales rose 5.3 pct compared with a 9.6 pct increase in the year-earlier period.