UK retail sales arrive at 0.0% m/m in April, surprise positively (GBP unmoved)

The UK retail sales arrive at 0.0% m/m in Apr.
The core retail sales in the UK drop by 0.2% m/m in Apr.

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

The UK retail sales came in at 0.0% over the month in April, surprising the markets to the upside while core retail sales stripping the auto motor fuel sales dropped less than expected by 0.2% m/m.

On an annualized basis, the UK retail sales rose 5.2% in April versus 4.6% expected while the core retail sales also advanced 4.9% in the reported month versus 6.3% previous and 4.2% expectations.

Main Points (via ONS):

“Online retailers selling clothing items were the driver to this growth, with the warm weather helping to boost sales.”

Non-food stores were the largest negative contributor on the month, with the amount spent and quantity bought contributing negative 0.4 and negative 0.2 percentage points respectively.

Non-store retailing provided the largest contribution to the growth, with the amount spent at 2.0 percentage points and the quantity bought at 2.1 percentage points.”

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

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