LONDON: A surge in demand for household electrical goods helped British retail sales bounce back in February after the worst January on record, official data showed on Thursday.
The Office for National Statistics said sales volumes jumped 2.1 per cent last month, the biggest increase since May 2008 and three times as fast as analysts had forecast.
However, there was a sharp downward revision to January, when late returns and changes to the way the statistics office processes the data meant the initial estimate of a 1.8 per cent fall was changed to a drop of 3.0 percent, the biggest since June 2008. That meant February sales were up 3.5 per cent in annual terms, only slightly above economists’ forecast of a 3.2 per cent rise.
“The sharp increases are less impressive than they look, given that January’s falls were revised far bigger,” said Vicky Redwood at Capital Economics.
Sterling briefly spiked as much as half a cent against the dollar and hit a one-month high versus the euro, but then pared gains as traders digested January’s heavy downward revision.
Britain’s retail sales series tends to be volatile on a monthly basis, and interpretation has been complicated by the incorporation of fuel sales into the main series and a rise in value-added tax in January.
January also saw Britain’s iciest weather in 30 years, forcing many shops and businesses to close and making it hard for shoppers to travel.
“Trying to discern an underlying trend from the past few months is nigh on impossible,” said Philip Shaw, economist at Investec.
Strong results from Next, Britain’s second-largest fashion chain, and Kingfisher, Europe’s biggest home improvements store added to hopes that retailers could weather what is expected to be a slow recovery.
Britain is coming out of its deepest recession since World War Two and is facing headwinds from an impending squeeze on government spending and an ongoing reluctance by banks to lend.
No comments:
Post a Comment