British retail sales unexpectedly fell in July for the first time in six months as electrical stores suffered after a World Cup boost earlier this year.
The Office for National Statistics said sales volumes fell by 0.3% last month compared with expectations of a rise of 0.2%.
June's rise was also revised lower to 0.7% from an initially reported 0.9% but the annual rate in July picked up to 4% because of favourable comparisons with last year when sales were hit by the July 7 London bombs.
The figures may slightly dent expectations that interest rates will rise again this year, especially as they revealed that strong sales growth seemed to be happening only when there was heavy price discounting.
Household goods suffered most in July, with volumes dropping by 3.4% despite inflation data earlier in the week revealing big discounting in the sector. The ONS said this was partly due to sales of electrical goods tailing off after the boost to flat screen TV sales ahead of the World Cup.
