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According to Reuters, the pound was down more than 50 pips against the dollar to a session low of $1.5536.
The Office for National Statistics revealed that sales volumes dipped by 0.5 per cent last month and the growth in July was altered from 1.1 per cent to 0.8 per cent.
It was more bad news for sterling against the euro this morning as the latter increased to a session high of 83.75 pence from 83.35 pence.
Jeremy Stretch, head of currency strategy at CIBC, said retail sales play a big role in UK growth due to consumption being an important part of recovery.
He added: "Sterling has been sidelined, with the FX market focused on intervention by Japan as well as events in the US and Europe, but the market is unlikely to ignore the retail sales data."
Posted by Greg Secker
