Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. retail sales in September rose at the slowest pace in five months as consumers cut back spending and bought fewer fleece jackets because of unseasonably warm weather.

Sales at stores open at least 12 months gained 2 percent from a year earlier, the International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS Securities LLC said today in a preliminary statement. The September increase was the smallest since same- store sales fell 1.9 percent in April.

The slump in home sales and increased fuel costs and interest rates prompted consumers to limit unnecessary purchases of clothing, furniture and other home goods. Higher-than-normal temperatures in much of the U.S. slowed sales of jackets and hooded sweatshirts.

``Consumers remain in a very cautious mood,'' Kurt Barnard, president of Retail Forecasting LLC in Upper Montclair, New Jersey, said in an Oct. 5 interview. ``They are very cautious because of the extraordinary problems that have beleaguered the economy and the United States over the last year.''

September results were on the low end of the ICSC's forecast of 2 percent to 2.5 percent. Initially, the group expected 2.5 percent. Comparable-store sales advanced 4 percent in September 2006.

Sales for the seven days through Oct. 6 climbed 2.1 percent from a year earlier, and were unchanged from the previous week, the ICSC and UBS said today.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, fell 10 cents to $45.27 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The Standard & Poor's Retailing Index dropped 0.7 percent and has declined 1.5 percent this year.

Benchmark Measure

Investors consider same-store sales a key measurement of a retailer's performance because it excludes locations that have recently opened or closed.

The ICSC's September results are preliminary. The group will issue a final figure for the sales it tracks at 60 chains on Oct. 11, when Wal-Mart, Target Corp. and other retailers issue their monthly sales reports.

Consumer confidence dropped more than forecast in September to the lowest level in almost two years, hurt by falling home values, a deteriorating labor market and stricter borrowing standards, the New York-based Conference Board said Sept. 25. New-home purchase prices plunged in August by the most since 1970, the Commerce Department said Sept. 27.

Wal-Mart earlier this month lowered prices on some toys more than two weeks earlier than 2006, to lure customers.

Target, the second-biggest U.S. discount chain, cut its monthly sales forecast on Sept. 24 to a gain of as low as 1.5 percent, less than half of what it initially had predicted, because of fewer customer visits.

To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Burke in New York at hburke2@bloomberg.net .