Investing.com - Retail sales in the U.K. rose more than expected in February, fuelling optimism over the country’s economic outlook, official data showed on Thursday.
In a report, the U.K. Office for National Statistics said retail sales increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.7% last month, above forecasts for a gain of 0.4%.
Retail sales in January rose by 0.1%, whose figure was revised from a previously reported decline of 0.3%.
Year-on-year, retail sales increased at an annualized rate of 5.7% in February, beating expectations for a 4.7% gain, after rising at a rate of 5.9% in January.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.7% last month, compared to forecasts for a 0.4% rise, after falling 0.3% in January.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.4988 from around 1.4967 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7362 from 0.7372 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were broadly lower. London’s FTSE 100 tumbled 1.4%, the EURO STOXX 50 lost 1.7%, France's CAC 40 dropped 1.65%, while Germany's DAX plunged 2%.