Canadian retail sales grew by 0.8% in March from February, more than analysts had forecast, and looked set to have increased by 0.5% in April, Statistics Canada data indicated on Friday. The largest increase was the 4.

British retail sales rose 1.2 per cent in April, significantly overshooting analysts’ expectations as warm weather encouraged consumers to spend more. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the volume of goods sold to rise 0.2 per cent in the month, after a revised increase of 0.1 per cent in March.

Retail sales rose 0.8 per cent to $69.8 billion in March, helped by an increase in new car sales as Canadians looked to get behind a new set of wheels before tariffs started to raise prices.