UK retail sales rose 1.6% m/m in April, beating the expectations

The UK retail sales rose 1.6% over the month in April coming out well above market expectations while core retail sales stripping the comparison base of the auto motor fuel sales rose 1.3% m/m.

Rob Kent-Smith, head of National Accounts at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said:"Retail sales bounced back in April, as petrol and other sales recovered from the snowfall. But the underlying position remains subdued with the volume of goods sold over the last six months broadly unchanged."

"Over the longer-term, retail sales growth has slowed considerably, with increases in food, household goods, and internet retailers being largely offset by declines across all other types of retailing," Rob Kent-Smith noted in the UK retail sales report for April. 

The UK retail sales reported very choppy results during the first quarter of this year, the market consensus by a relatively large margin. While retail sales in January missed the expectation rising 0.1% m/m compared to the expected increase of 0.5% m/m in January, February figure doubled the expectations rising 0.8% m/m while March figure came in at -1.2% m/m compared to -0.5% monthly fall expected.