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Surprise rise in retail sales

Dec 19 2008

Retail sales rose year-on-year in November as shops slashed prices.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show sales increased by 1.7 per cent in the three months to November, compared to 2007's figures for the same period.

Sales rose by 0.3 per cent between October and November, with household goods driving the increase, seeing a 3.9 per cent rise.

Analysts were surprised by the figures as they had been expecting a 0.6 per cent drop in November.

James Knightley, an economist at ING, says: 'Early Christmas shopping could explain part of the strength, but it doesn't really tally with the weakness in consumer confidence nor the data seen in the CBI [Confederation of British Industry] and British Retail Consortium (BRC) surveys.'

Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC, describes the figures as 'hard to explain', saying big discounting, the drop in interest rates and VAT cuts have helped to boost sales.

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