Investing.com - Retail sales in the U.K. rose much more than expected in November, underlining optimism over the country’s economic outlook and supporting the case for higher interest rates, official data showed on Thursday.
In a report, the U.K. Office for National Statistics said retail sales increased by a seasonally adjusted 1.7% last month, blowing past forecasts for a gain of 0.5%. Retail sales in October fell by 0.5%, whose figure was revised from a previously reported decline of 0.6%.
Year-on-year, retail sales rose at an annualized rate of 5.0% in November, easily surpassing expectations for a 3.0% gain, after rising at a rate of 4.2% a month earlier.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, jumped by a seasonally adjusted 1.7% last month, above forecasts for a 0.6% increase and following a decline of 0.8% in September.
Sales rose as Black Friday discounts boosted spending at department stores and shops selling household goods.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.4969 from around 1.4986 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7256 from 0.7242 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were broadly higher. London’s FTSE 100 jumped 1.15%, the EURO STOXX 50 rallied 2.6%, France's CAC 40 surged 2.35%, while Germany's DAX climbed 2.7%.