Australian upmarket department store David Jones Ltd is cautiously confident about its sales performance over the upcoming Christmas sales period, Chief Executive Mark McInnes said on Monday.

The signs are that things are improving and there is a bias to the upside, but the macro-economic situation is still fragile, McInnes told reporters after the firm's annual meeting.

The Christmas sales period accounts for as much as a third of the company's annual earnings.

Earlier this month, David Jones reported first quarter same-store sales rose 1.9 percent, trailing larger rival Myer Holdings Ltd with sales growth of 2.9 percent.

(Reporting by Victoria Thieberger; editing by Mark Bendeich)

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