News for 1st February 2012 :: UK retail sales rise 0.6% in December

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also said that sales were 2.6% higher than December 2010.

The November's figure was revised down to show a fall of 0.5%, rather than the 0.4% originally estimated.

Retailers, including Marks and Spencer, have said that they marked prices down sharply in the run-up to Christmas.

The increase in the volume of sales removes the effect of inflation.

The figures are also seasonally adjusted to try to counter the annual upwards bounce caused by the Christmas spending spree.

The sales rise in December was largely driven by clothing and footwear sales, which was 6.3% higher compared with a year ago.

But spending on household goods was 2.4% below last year's levels, the biggest drop since April 2010.

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