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UK retail sales rose unexpectedly in September by the most in five months, led by spending on electrical goods such as laptop computers.

Sales including fuel climbed 0.6 percent from August, when they fell a revised 0.4 percent, the Office for National Statistics said on Thursday in London. That's the biggest gain since April. In the third quarter, sales fell 0.2 percent from the previous three months.

The Bank of England, which expanded its stimulus measures this month to aid the recovery, said on Wednesday that household spending has been "weak for some time" as tensions in global markets affect consumer confidence.

Pressure on households may continue after gas and electricity costs helped to push inflation to 5.2 percent in September, the highest in three years.

"Recently, retail sales have held up better than we thought they would," Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec Securities in London, said before the release. "But it's unlikely that we're going to get anything like a sharp rebound in consumption because of the uncertainties and downside risks facing the economy."

Sales at household-goods stores jumped 3.2 percent in September from the previous month, partly led by back-to-school spending on items such as computers, and demand for new video games. Food sales were unchanged and clothing sales fell 0.7 percent as warm weather curbed sales of winter gear.

Overall sales were up 0.6 percent in September from a year earlier. Excluding fuel, retail sales rose 0.7 percent on the month and 0.4 percent on the year.

UK consumer confidence rose for the first time in four months in September as Britons became more optimistic about the economic outlook and spending, a market research company said on Sept 30.

"The squeeze on households' real income and the fiscal consolidation were likely to continue to weigh on domestic spending," it said.

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.