Retail sales recover in July

AFP - Thursday, August 21 11:12 am

LONDON (AFP) - Retail sales rose in July, recovering from the biggest monthly drop for 22 years in June, official data showed on Thursday.

On a monthly basis, retail sales grew by 0.8 percent in July from June, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.

On a 12-month basis, retail sales rose by 2.1 percent in July from the same month in 2007, the ONS added.

The readings beat market expectations for a monthly drop of 0.2 percent and an annual increase of 1.8 percent.

"July's robust 0.8-percent monthly rise in retail sales should be taken with a pinch of salt, given that the official sales data have been unusually volatile over the past few months," said Capital Economics analyst Vicky Redwood.

"Abstracting from this volatility, sales appear to have been broadly flat since the start of this year."

Meanwhile on Thursday, the ONS downgraded the monthly figure for June, which was revised to show a drop of 4.3 percent. That compared with a 3.9-percent decline previously and was the heaviest monthly fall since 1986.

Office for National Statistics

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