Investing.com - U.K. retail sale volumes rose more than expected in March, one month after hitting the lowest level in 21 months, industry data showed on Thursday.
In a report, the Confederation of British Industry said the result of its index of U.K. retailers increased by 17.0 points to 18.0 this month from 1.0 in February. Analysts had expected the index to rise by 14.0 points to 15.0 in March.
On the index, a reading above 0.0 indicates higher sales volume, below indicates lower.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.4923 from around 1.4924 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7375 from 0.7377 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were broadly lower. London’s FTSE 100 tumbled 1.2%, the EURO STOXX 50 lost 1.15%, France's CAC 40 dropped 1.25%, while Germany's DAX plunged 1.4%.