Higher fuel prices take toll on retail sales
UK retail deals posted a 1.4% ascent in February from the earlier month, yet there are signs that higher fuel costs have started to hit customers' pockets. In the three months to February, deals volumes fell by 1.4%, a more keen slide than the 0.5% decrease for the three months to January. That was the greatest three-month fall recorded by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) since March 2010. Fuel costs in February were 18.7% higher than a year prior. "February's retail deals figures indicate genuinely solid development, however the hidden three-month picture demonstrates falling deals as February's figures take after two back to back months of decrease in December and January," said ONS analyst Kate Davies. "The basic pattern proposes that rising petrol costs specifically have negatively affected the general amount of merchandise purchased in the course of the most recent three months." Petrol cost a normal of 120p a liter in February, w...