UK: Retail Sales drop 0.5% in May, as expected

FXStreet (Łódź) - National Statistics informed on Thursday that Retail Sales fell 0.5% in May, after growing 1% in April, as expected.

On an annual basis UK Retail Sales rose 3.9% in May, down from the 6.5% increase in April and below forecasts of +4.3%.

Retail Sales excluding Fuel dropped 0.5%, compared with the 1.7% rise and almost in line with market consensus of a 0.6 % decline. Year-over-year Retail Sales excluding Fuel edged up 4.7%, following a 7.4% increase and slightly below expectations of +4.8%.