Investing.com - U.K. retail sales rose by 1% in January, as consumers shrugged off uncertainty over the country’s plan to leave the European Union at the end of March and took advantage of post-holiday sales.
Retail sales rose 1% in January and were up 4.2% from a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday. That was compared to a fall of 0.7% in the previous month, which was revised up from a negative 0.9%.
Economists polled by Investing.com had forecast a reading of 0.2% for the month and a rise of 3.4% year on year.
"The quantity bought in textile, clothing and footwear stores showed strong year-on-year growth at 5.5% as stores took advantage of the January sales, with a year-on-year price fall of 0.9%," the ONS said in a press release.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile and gasoline sales, rose 1.2% in January and 4.1% year-over-year.