2021.11.1906:33:00UTC+00UK Retail Sales Recover In October

UK retail sales grew for the first time in six months in October, data from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday.

Retail sales advanced 0.8 percent month-on-month in October, after staying flat in September. Economists had forecast a monthly growth of 0.5 percent. This was the first increase since May.

Excluding auto fuel, retail sales gained 1.6 percent, in contrast to the 0.4 percent drop a month ago and also faster than the economists' forecast of +0.6 percent.

Non-food store was the only main retail sector that saw a rise in sales volumes, increasing by 4.2 percent in October. Food store sales were down 0.3 percent.

On a yearly basis, the decline in retail sales volume deepened to 1.3 percent from 0.6 percent. Nonetheless, this was smaller than the 2 percent decline expected by economists.

Excluding auto fuel, retail sales were down 1.9 percent versus the same rate as posted in September and the expected decrease of 3.1 percent.