 Happy football fans are happy shoppers |
High Street sales raced ahead in June at the strongest pace for six months, boosted by the Euro 2004 football tournament, official figures show. Retail sales grew by 1.1% on the month compared with 0.7% in May, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
According to the ONS's figures, Euro 2004 pushed up sales of household goods as consumers bought new TV sets.
The data is likely to increase expectations that the Bank of England will raise interest rates next month.
Record growth
Sport shops also saw sales of football shirts increase, despite a general decline in sales at clothing stores in June.
The figure for the month brought the year-on-year gain in High Street sales to 7.2%, the ONS said.
UK sales have now avoided a decline for 13 months - the longest period of growth since comparable records began in 1986.
But the ONS figures contrast with data earlier in the month from accountants KPMG and the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which showed year-on-year sales grew by 5% during June - down from 6.5% in May.
Bank decision
The KPMG/BRC study said the Euro 2004 tournament boosted sales of drinks and TV sets, but cut the number of people actually going to the shops.
The ONS said UK sales in the three months to June rose 1.9%, suggesting consumption may push economic growth higher.
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously against a third successive interest rate riseearlier in the month, minutes from the meeting published on Wednesday revealed.
Rates were kept on hold at 4.5% after inflation in May proved below target, combined with tentative signals that the house market was slowing.
One-Minute World News 
News services
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
