Retail sales in Germany rose more than expected in November, partially making up for the drop seen the previous month, official data showed on Friday. Retail sales rose by 1.2 percent in November compared with October in price, seasonally and calendar-adjusted terms, according to provisional figures by the federal statistics office Destatis. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a more modest increase of 0.8 percent following a contraction of 1.3 percent in October. On a 12-month basis, however, retail sales were down by 0.9 percent in November. Monthly retail sales data are volatile and subject to frequent revision. On the basis of data for the 11 months to November, which showed a 2.3 percent increase in retail sales, Destatis said it was projecting a decrease of 0.1-0.3 percent in sales for the whole of 2012. The estimate took into account the fact that there were two fewer sales days in December 2012 than in the same month a year earlier, Destatis noted.