Retail sales in Britain fell by the fastest pace in a year as shoppers bought fewer household goods and clothes in the winter sales. Retail sales declined by 1.0pc in January from December and were up 4.2pc from a year earlier, National Statistics (NS) said this morning. Sales of household goods dropped 1.6pc in January from the previous month, while sales of clothing and footwear slumped by 0.9pc. Purchases at food stores were unchanged, according to the figures. The overall value of goods bought on Britain's high streets last month was STG4.12bn, up 3.1pc from a year earlier.
The volume of sales was also weaker in January partly due to early discounting in December by retailers, which boosted sales in that month by 1.1pc. Analysts had expected a decline in January following the December surge, but had only forecast a 0.5pc drop. The statistics office noted that Christmas tends to skew figures in January. "There are always problems in adjusting for the effects of spending around Christmas. An additional uncertainty this year is the timing of the December and January trading periods," it said. //www.fxcentre.com