Investing.com - U.K. retail sale volumes rose to a three-month high in July, fuelling optimism over the health of the country’s economy, industry data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the Confederation of British Industry said the result of its index of U.K. retailers improved by 17.0 points to a reading of 21.0 this month from 4.0 in June. Analysts had expected the index to increase by 12.0 points to 16.0 in July.
On the index, a reading above 0.0 indicates higher sales volume, below indicates lower.
Retailers expect sales volumes to grow at an even stronger pace next month and stocks in relation to expected demand rose, most likely in anticipation of this stronger sales growth.
Barry Williams, Chair of the CBI Distributive Trades Survey Panel said, “As the temperature began to rise, it seems so did sales volumes. Almost all sectors saw growth, with grocers and clothing stores telling us they performed particularly well as people bought barbeque supplies and summer outfits.”
Following the release of that data, the pound held on to modest losses against the U.S. dollar, with GBP/USD shedding 0.12% to trade at 1.7045.
Meanwhile, European stock markets remained higher. London’s FTSE 100 tacked on 0.35%, the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 inched up 0.45%, France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.5%, while Germany's DAX rose 0.65%.