Retail sales were softer than expected (ex-autos 0.2% m/m vs 0.5% consensus). The UK economist would caution against reading too much into the data though, as it is a very difficult dataset to use for a broader interpretation of UK economic performance.Separately, UK public sector borrowing (ex banking) for March at GBP7.4bn was a little higher than consensus, but downward revisions in the prior months mean the government had a total deficit of some GBP3bn lower in 2014-15 than the official estimate of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) at the Budget last month

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