Retail sales rocket in UK, ONS finds
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The volume of retail sales in October rose 7.4% over the same period last year, the Office for National Statistics said, up from the revised 4.2% gain the month before and beating of the 5.3% consensus forecast.
Month-on-month, sales in October increased 1.9% on September's, well ahead of the 0.4% expected and up from the 0.1% a month ago.
Gains were made by all store types, except department stores, the ONS said, with the largest contribution to growth coming from textiles, clothing and footwear stores.
Excluding car sales, retail sales were up 7.6% on last year and 2.0% on the previous month. ■