Costco Wholesale Corp , the largest U.S. warehouse club operator, reported a 7 percent rise in August sales at stores open at least a year, aided by surge in gasoline prices and foreign currency gains.

Midwest, Texas, northwest and Los Angeles performed the best for the company within the U.S. Internationally, Korea, Canada and Japan were the outperformers, the company said.

Analysts were expecting same-store sales to rise 4.2 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The company, which currently operates 572 warehouses across the world, said it gained from the strengthening of the Canadian dollar as well as the Korean won.

For the four weeks ended Aug 29, net sales at the Issaquah, Washington-based company rose nine percent to $5.9 billion.

Discounts and back-to-school selling had helped teen retailers Hot Topic Inc and Zumiez Inc beat August same-store sales estimates.

(Reporting by Krishna N. Das in Bangalore)

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