MNI 5 THINGS: UK Retail Sales Rebounds, Outlook Still Sluggish

By Jai Lakhani, Jamie Satchithanantham, Laurie Laird

     LONDON (MNI) - The following are the key points from the ONS' April retail

sales data published Thursday by the Office for National Statistics.

     --Retail sales rebounded in April, far exceeding analyst expectations.

However, ONS statisticians stressed that activity in the sector remained

subdued.

     -- Fuel sales rose by 4.7% m/m, partially reversing the 6.9% plunge

suffered during a snowy March. More modest growth lifted all other major retail

sectors with the exception of department stores, where sales actually rose in

March.

     -- A 3.2% annual rise in fuel prices lifted the retail deflator by 2.2%,

the first rise since September 2017. However, excluding fuel, retail prices rose

by 2.0% matching the March outturn, down from a high of 3.0% in the wake of the

Brexit vote.

     --Household goods boasted strong m/m growth of 2.5% which was driven by

hardware, paints and glass growing 4.3%, the largest contribution within that

sector to growth. The contribution to total m/m growth from this sector was 0.12

percentage points.

     --Total online sales as a share of total retail activity receded from

March's series high of 17.6% to 17.3% in April. However, online activity in

March was artificially boosted as bad weather kept shoppers at home.

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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