PoundSterlingLIVE - The British Pound fell against the Euro, Dollar and other currencies after UK retail sales for December disappointed.
The Pound to Euro exchange rate dipped to 1.1656 in the minutes after the ONS said UK retail sales read at -3.2% month-on-month in December, undershooting expectations for -0.5%.
The year-on-year figure stood at -2.4%, which was over 3.5 percentage points below the 1.1% growth the market expected.
The Pound to Dollar exchange rate fell 0.14% to reach 1.2676, rubbing off some of the shine from what has been a strong week for the British Pound.
According to the ONS, December's decrease was the largest monthly fall since January 2021, when coronavirus restrictions affected sales.
The soft sales speak of a consumer that continues to struggle under the weight of months of extraordinary inflationary pressures and rising interest rates.
Although inflation is coming down, the prices in shops continue to increase, albeit at slower rates.
Weakness was widespread with food, non-food and online retailers all seeing lower sales volumes.
On an annual basis, sales volumes fell by 2.8% in 2023 and were at their lowest level since 2018.
An original version of this article can be viewed at Pound Sterling Live