UK Retail Sales Recover Unexpectedly

(RTTNews) - UK retail sales rebounded unexpectedly in August as online shopping and warm weather drove seasonal purchases, data from the Office for National Statistics revealed Friday.

Retail sales grew 0.5 percent on a monthly basis, offsetting July's 0.5 percent fall. Sales were expected to drop 0.2 percent.

Excluding auto fuel, retail sales increased 0.6 percent, reversing a 0.9 percent fall in July. Economists had forecast a 0.2 percent decrease for August.

The ONS said non-store retailers partially recovered from falls in July, with lower sales volumes in July attributed to promotions occurring earlier in June. Department stores also picked up in August.

Food store sales grew 0.3 percent and non-food store sales rebounded 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, automotive fuel sales dropped 1.3 percent.

On a yearly basis, retail sales growth doubled to 2.4 percent from 1.2 percent in July. This was also stronger than forecast of 1.9 percent. Likewise, sales excluding auto fuel, registered an annual growth of 2.7 percent, following a 1.8 percent rise in the prior month.

Online sales values rose 2.5 percent in August, in contrast to a fall of 4.2 percent in July. In the three months to August, retail sales increased 0.9 percent from the prior three months as warm weather raised sales of fans and air conditioning units. Retailers also benefited from sales of sports merchandise and clothing.

Sales of alcohol and beverages also performed well across all three months to August, which retailers attributed to promotions, the hot weather, and the World Cup.