The Confederation of British Industry's (CBI) monthly distributive trades index rose to +2 this month from -23 in January. A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to a reading of -13.
But a measure of expected sales in the month ahead fell to -18 from -15. "Whilst retail sales volumes were largely unchanged in the year to February and slightly above seasonal norms, firms remain pessimistic about their business outlook and are bracing themselves for yet another fall in sales next month," Martin Sartorius, CBI principal economist, said. (Reporting by Suban Abdulla Editing by William Schomberg)
