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.
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.
