UK Retail Sales Surprise with 0.5% MoM Rise in August

UK Retail Sales have unexpectedly risen by 0.5% month-over-month (MoM) in August, defying economists' predictions of a decline. The data was released by the Office for National Statistics and compared to a similar pace of decline in July.

The annualized figure showed a stronger-than-expected growth rate of 2.4%, surpassing the previous reading of 1.2% after it was revised lower from 1.6%. Economists had anticipated an increase of only 1.9%.

The British Pound (GBP) has responded positively to the news, with a marginal rebound in the GBP/USD exchange rate to near 1.3366 from 1.3361.