UPDATE 1-Brazil retail sales rise 0.6% in February -IBGE

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By Jamie McGeever

BRASILIA, April 13 (Reuters) - Brazilian retail sales rose in February for the first time in three months, official figures showed on Tuesday, led by sales of school supplies as children returned to classes, furniture and electrical goods, and clothing.

The 0.6% monthly rise was exactly in line with the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll of economists, while the 3.8% fall compared with the same month a year earlier was nearly in line with the 3.9% forecast in the poll.

Researchers at government statistics agency IBGE said the rise was in large part due to the 15.4% increase in spending on books, magazines and stationary items as the school term started across the country.

Furniture and electrical goods sales rose 9.3% in the month, clothing and footwear sales were up 7.8%, and supermarket, food and drink, and tobacco sales edged up 0.8%, IBGE said.

These were the four of eight segments covered by IBGE to show rising sales in February. Among the four segments to register falling sales was fuel, which declined 0.4% on the month as inflation in the sector continued to rise.

Since rebounding to record levels in October last year, the volume of retail sales in Latin America's largest economy has fallen 5.7%, IBGE said.

On a wider basis, including cars and building materials, retail sales in February rose 4.1% on the month, and were down 1.9% from February last year, IBGE said.

By this measure, retail sales in Brazil were still 3.5% down from their peak in August 2012, IBGE said. (Reporting by Jamie McGeever, editing by Ed Osmond and Steve Orlofsky)