2014.04.2506:07:00UTC+00UK Retail Sales Unexpectedly Rise In March

U.K. retail sales unexpectedly rose for a second straight month in March, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed Friday.

Retail sales including automotive fuel rose 0.1 percent month-on-month, following a 1.3 percent gain in February, revised from 1.7 percent. Economists had forecast a 0.4 percent decline.

Year-on-year, sales grew 4.2 percent in March, after a 3.3 percent rise in the previous month, revised from 3.7 percent. Economists had expected 3.8 percent growth.

In the first quarter, retail sales rose 3.8 percent year-on-year, the ONS said.

Non-food stores surged 9.6 percent year-on-year, the biggest growth since April 2002. This may partly reflect the negative effect of the very cold weather a year earlier, which was the second coldest March on record, in contrast to the warm weather in March 2014, the ONS said.

Food store sales declined 2.3 percent annually, which was the biggest fall since April last year, when they fell 2.9 percent.

Excluding automotive fuel, retail sales fell 0.4 percent monthly in March, after a 1.3 percent rise in the previous month, revised from 1.8 percent. A 0.5 percent declined was forecast by economists.

Annually, sales rose 4.2 percent, after a 3.9 percent growth in the previous month. Economists were looking for a 4.5 percent gain.

Results of a survey by the Confederation of British Industry showed on Thursday that U.K. retailers reported sales growth for the fifth consecutive month in April and expect sales to expand at a faster pace next month.