UK retail sales drop 0.3% m/m in August vs. 0.0% expected, GBP keeps highs
|- The UK retail sales drop at 0.2% m/m in August.
- The UK core retail sales fall 0.3% m/m in August.
The UK retail sales came in at -0.2% over the month in August vs. 0.0% expected and +0.4% previous. The core retail sales, stripping the auto motor fuel sales, stood at -0.3% m/m vs. 0.0% expected and +0.4% previous.
On an annualized basis, the UK retail sales rose 2.7% in August versus 2.9% expected and +3.4% prior while the core retail sales also advanced 2.2% in the reported month versus +3.1% previous and +2.6% expectations.
Main Points (via ONS):
“Online sales as a proportion of all retailing fell to 19.7% in August 2019, from 19.9% reported in July 2019.
Non-store retailing provided the largest contribution to the year-on-year growth, with the amount spent and quantity bought at 1.7 and 1.6 percentage points respectively.
In contrast, non-food stores were the smallest contributor to growth in the amount spent at 0.1 percentage points, and remained flat for the quantity bought.”
GBP/USD picked up fresh bids and hit daily tops at 1.2494 despite the downbeat UK Retail Sales data, as the bulls probably cheered the upward revisions to the previous figures.
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