- The UK Retail Sales rise 0.9% MoM in January.
- Core Retail Sales for the UK jump 1.6% MoM in January.
- Cable jumps 10-pips on upbeat UK Retail Sales data.
The UK retail sales came in at +0.9% over the month in January vs. +0.7% expected and -0.5% previous. The core retail sales, stripping the auto motor fuel sales, stood at +1.6% MoM vs. +0.8% expected and -0.8% previous.
On an annualized basis, the UK retail sales rose 0.8% in January versus +0.7% expected and +0.9% prior while the core retail sales also advanced 1.2% in the reported month versus +0.4% expectations and +0.7% previous.
Main points (via ONS):
The increase was mainly because of moderate growth in both food stores (1.7%) and non-food stores (1.3%).
Fuel saw a large fall of 5.7% in the quantity bought in January 2020 when compared with December 2019, which coincides with a rise in fuel prices of 2.3 pence per litre between December and January.
Online sales as a proportion of all retailing was 19.0% in January 2020, down from 19.3% in December 2019.
FX implications:
GBP/USD jumped 10-pips on the upbeat UK Retail Sales data. The spot now hits a new session high of 1.2926, up 0.05% on the day.