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UK retail sales climb 2.1% in Q2

UK retail sales climb 2.1% in Q2

Mubasher: Retail sales in the UK increased 2.1%  year-on-year in the second quarter of 2018, registering the largest gain since February 2015, driven by increases in all sectors official data revealed Thursday.

Meanwhile the volume bought in retail sales declined 0.5% month-on-month in June, following two months of resilient growth, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) stated.

The monthly drop was led by “a decrease in footfall” in non-food stores, due to the hot weather during the month and World Cup celebrations, the ONS said.

Food stores saw the largest quarterly increase in Q2-18, since May 2001 with a 2.2% gain backed by the ongoing fair weather and World Cup celebrations, as cited by surveyed retailers.

Online sales, as a total of all retailing. remained stable at 18% in the April- June period of 2018, while online spending in clothing and footwear stores continued to grow at 17.5% in June for the fourth month in a row, hitting a new record proportions of online retailing.

Earlier on Thursday, ING expected UK retail sales to have "limited" effect on the British pound.

By 9:05 am GMT, the GBP/USD pair fell 0.48% to $1.3006, while the EUR/GBP gained 0.25% to GBP 0.8928.