Retail sales in December unexpectedly increased in Britain as shoppers flocked to supermarkets and bought more fuel on the back of falling oil prices, official data showed on Friday.
Sales were expected to be weaker after consumers took advantage in November of the country's first major round of US-style Black Friday sales.
But retail sales volumes rose 0.4% on the month after surging by 1.6 per cent in November, the strongest growth in more than a decade.
December sales rose 4.3% in compared with the same month a year ago, even though economists had expected a fall of 0.6% on the month, after the Black Friday sales.
