By Andrew Hay

MADRID, May 27 (Reuters) - Spanish shoppers cut back on high street spending in April, cowed by rising unemployment and sinking house prices, but the decline in retail sales eased for the second month running, data showed on Wednesday 27 May.


Spanish households sharply reduced purchases of clothes and big-ticket consumer goods but cheaper food prices cut the decline in grocery purchases, sending overall retail sales down a calendar-adjusted 7.5 percent year-on-year in April, Spain's National Statistics Institute reported..

It was the 17th consecutive month of retail sales decline but less than a record 9.1 percent fall in February and an 8.2 percent tumble in March.

"There are two elements here: one is the intensity of the fall, which probably hit its maximum level in the first quarter of 2009, so we should have passed the worst point. That doesn't mean that we're not going to see continued contraction, just that it won't be so pronounced," said Xavier Segura at Caixa Catalunya.

"From the point of view of recovering to normal levels, we think that in the best of cases that won't happen until the end of 2010."

Boarded up shops are a common sight on Spanish streets as small businesses struggle to stay afloat while big chains like department store El Corte Ingles and clothing chain Cortefiel are offering discounts and financing deals to tempt shoppers.

Sales at large stores fell 5.3 percent in April.

Some analysts said the retail slide could be easing, given a Spanish government estimate that lower euro zone interest rates and energy costs will boost Spaniards' disposable income by 40 billion euros ($56 billion). (Additional reporting by Jason Webb and Sonya Dowsett, editing by Mike Peacock)