U.K. Retail Sales Volume Improves In August: CBI

(RTTNews) - British retail sales volume increased in August after declining in prior month, the Distributive Trades Survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed Thursday.

The retail sales balance rose to +9 percent from -14 percent in July. The score was above expectations of -12 percent. Economists had expected a zero balance for August.

A balance of +3 percent forecast sales to increase in September.

Anna Leach, CBI Head of Economic Analysis and Surveys, said, "The summer weather has brought shoppers out onto the high street with retailers reporting that sales growth has risen, outdoing expectations, although firms do expect sales growth to ease next month."

With labor market conditions likely to deteriorate and rising inflation set to undermine real wage growth, it would be fairly surprising if retail sales growth didn't slow at all in the aftermath of the leave vote, Ruth Gregory at Capital Economics, said.

A balance of -7 percent of retailers said they placed fewer orders with suppliers in August.

Investment intentions for the year ahead turned positive following the most negative results since 2013 in the previous quarter.