UK retail sales dip as downturn deepens

UK retail sales fell in September as rising unemployment and the specter of a recession prompted British shoppers to curb spending.

Sales declined 0.4 percent on the month after rising 1.1 percent in August, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday in London. Economists forecast a 0.7 percent decline, according to the median of 33 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. On the year, sales increased 1.8 percent, the least since February 2006.

DSG International Plc, the UK's largest electronics retailer, said yesterday that a sales drop persisted in the past two months. Bank of England Governor Mervyn King told business leaders this week that Britain probably faces a recession after the nation's worst banking crisis since World War I.