Investing.com – Retail sales in the U.K. posted a larger decrease than expected last month, official data showed on Thursday.
In a report, U.K. Office for National Statistics said that retail sales dropped 0.9% in June, compared to the prior 0.9% gain.
Analysts had expected retail sales to fall 0.6% last month.
Year-on-year, retail sales increased 4.3%, compared to May’s 5.7% gain which was revised from the initial reading of a 6.0% gain.
Consensus had forecast a 5.0% rise.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, fell 0.9% on the month, compared to the prior 0.9% increase in May whose figure was revised from an initial 1.0% advance.
Analysts had expected core retail sales to drop 0.6% last month.
Year-on-year, core retail sales rose 3.9% in June, compared to the previous month’s 5.2% increase (revised from a 5.7% gain) and compared to the consensus forecast for a 4.8% advance.
In an immediate reaction, the pound edged lower. GBP/USD traded at 1.3163 from around 1.3235 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.8370 from 0.8332 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets traded mixed. London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.33%, the Euro Stoxx 50 lost 0.32%, France's CAC 40 traded down 0.46%, while Germany's DAX shed 0.34%.