UK retail sales +0.4% m/m in February vs. -0.4% expected

   •  UK retail sales unexpectedly rise by 0.4% m/m in Feb.
   •  Core retail sales also surpassed market expectations.

The UK retail sales recorded an unexpected growth of 0.4% m/m in February, beating market expectations of -0.4% by a big margin. Meanwhile, while core retail sales stripping the auto motor fuel sales also bettered market expectations and rose 0.2% m/m during the reported month.

On an annualized basis, the UK retail sales growth stood at 4.0%, down from 4.2% previous but still better than 3.3% expected, and the core retail sales eased to 3.8% versus 4.1% previous.