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According to Reuters, the pound slumped to $1.6149 after the industry's figures decreased by 0.8 per cent in February.
Forex traders may be interested to note this result was worse than the 0.6 per cent drop predicted by a Reuters poll of economists.
Annual growth rate for the UK retail sector also slowed from 5.1 per cent to 1.3 per cent, while the survey respondents thought it would decrease to around 2.3 per cent.
This comes after the pound suffered yesterday following the announcement of the Budget by chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne.
Sterling dropped by 25 pips to $1.6230 after his House of Commons speech, whereby he revealed a lower growth projection for the year from 2.1 per cent to 1.7 per cent, as well as increased borrowing targets.
Posted by Clive Arneil
