BREAKING: GBP ticks higher after UK retail sales data

UK retail sales report for February was released this morning at 7:00 am GMT. Data was expected to show a drop in headline and core measures, on year-over-year basis as well as on the month-over-month basis. Actual report turned out to be a positive surprise - on an annual basis, headline and core retail sales drop less than expected. Moreover, monthly headline price growth remained flat (0.0% MoM) while core monthly growth was positive.

GBP ticked higher following the release. However, scale of the move was very small and did not exceed 0.1% on GBPUSD in the first few minutes of trade. 

UK retail sales for February

• Headline (annual): -0.4% YoY vs -0.8% YoY expected (+0.7% YoY previously)
• Headline (monthly): 0.0% MoM vs -0.3% MoM expected (+3.4% MoM previously)
• Core (annual): -0.5% YoY vs -0.8% YoY expected (+0.7% YoY previously)
• Core (monthly): +0.2% MoM vs -0.1% MoM expected (+3.2% YoY previously)

Source: xStation5