Investing.com - U.K. stocks were higher Thursday as the pound fell despite retail sales beating estimates.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.49% at 05:30 ET.
The pound was off 0.44% at $1.2967 after briefly paring losses after the sales data.
The yield on the 10-year gilt steady at 1.2% mark.
U.K. retail sales in June were up 0.6% from May when they fell 1.1%. Sales were forecast to rise 0.4%.
Sales were up an annual 2.9% after a rise of 2.5% in May.
Core retail sales were up 0.9% month-on-month against a forecast rise of 0.5%.
An erosion of real wages due to higher inflation has raised concerns about personal consumption.
Inflation unexpectedly eased to 2.6% in June, dampening talk of a possible U.K. rate hike.
(LON:EasyJet ) was off 5.43% but off lows for the session after revenues per seat fell 8.2% in the June quarter.
The airline warned about the potential impact of a weaker pound on earnings.
(LON:Unilever) was up 0.61% after an upbeat first-half earnings report.