UK retail sales rose by 1.4% in April after declining by about 1.2% in March before being revised down to 1.4% to bring January’s numbers better than expected, which had indicated a decline of about 0.3%.
In details, sales of food stores rose in April to 2.8%, while sales of non-food stores decreased by 0.6% in April, and sales of motor fuels increased by 1.4%, and online retail sales rose in turn to 19.9% in April.
The British pound is trading at 1.2487 levels against the US dollar, rising before the opening of the European markets.