UK Retail Sales rise 1.3% in November, Q3 GDP growth revised lower to 0.3%

• Retail Sales in the UK increased at a stronger pace than forecast in November.
• Annual UK GDP growth for Q3 got revised lower.
• GBP/USD clings to small daily gains near 1.2700 after the data.

Retail Sales in the UK rose by 1.3% on a monthly basis in November, the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on Friday. This reading followed the no-change (revised from -0.3%) recorded in October and came in better than the market expectation for an increase of 0.4%. On a yearly basis, Retail Sales were up 0.1%.

The ONS also announced that the annualized Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the third quarter was revised lower to 0.3% from 0.6% in the first estimate. 

Finally, Total Business Investment declined 3.2% on a quarterly basis in the third quarter, up from a 4.2% contraction reported in the first estimate.

Market reaction

GBP/USD edged slightly higher with the immediate reaction to the mixed data and was last seen gaining 0.1% on the day at 1.2700.