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U.K. retail sales jump 1.2% in April, pound spikes

Published 21/05/2015, 09:32
© Reuters. U.K. retail sales jump 1.2% in April, pound spikes
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Investing.com - Retail sales in the U.K. rose much more than expected in April, fuelling optimism over the country’s economic outlook, official data showed on Thursday.

In a report, the U.K. Office for National Statistics said retail sales increased by a seasonally adjusted 1.2% last month, easily surpassing forecasts for a gain of 0.4%. Retail sales in March fell by 0.7%, whose figure was revised from a previously reported decline of 0.5%.

Year-on-year, retail sales increased at an annualized rate of 4.7% in April, beating expectations for a 3.8% gain, after rising at a rate of 4.0% in March.

Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, increased by a seasonally adjusted 1.2% last month, compared to forecasts for a 0.3% rise, after gaining 0.2% in March.

GBP/USD was trading at 1.5644 from around 1.5602 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7137 from 0.7158 earlier.

Meanwhile, European stock markets were mostly lower. London’s FTSE 100 tacked on 0.1%, the EURO STOXX 50 shed 0.4%, France's CAC 40 dipped 0.3%, while Germany's DAX slumped 0.45%.

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