OTTAWA - The value of Canadian wholesale trade dipped 0.5 per cent in December, pulled down in part by weaker demand for home entertainment equipment and household appliances, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday.

Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast an increase of 0.4 per cent. StatsCan revised November's month-on-month gain down to 0.3 per cent from an initial 0.7 per cent to incorporate corrected data from some respondents.

Lower sales were recorded in five of the seven subsectors, representing 65 per cent of wholesale trade in December, while volumes declined 0.9 per cent.

The personal and household goods subsector dropped 3.3 per cent to its lowest level since April 2017 while sales in the miscellaneous subsector fell 2.4 per cent on weakness in the agricultural supplies industry.

Wholesale trade in 2017 rose for the eighth year in a row, jumping 9.4 per cent to a new record. The year-over-year increase was the biggest advance since the 13.7 per cent leap in 1997.