On November 19, Costco's bigger rival Wal-Mart Stores moved its planned dividend into late December from early January to help shareholders avoid the looming jump in the tax rate. Costco's special dividend will be paid on December 18, with the record date set at December 10. November sales at Costco stores open at least a year rose 6 percent, helped by higher gasoline prices and dollar weakness, the company said. That compared with a forecast for 5.4 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. Excluding the effects of fuel and currency, Costco posted a November same-store sales increase of 5 percent. Net sales rose 9 percent to $8.15 billion in the four weeks to November 25. (Reporting by Sakthi Prasad and Brad Dorfman; Editing by Dan Lalor and Maureen Bavdek)