UK consumer confidence unexpectedly rose in August for the first time in six months in a sign that rebounding economic growth is cheering shoppers, a report by GfK NOP Ltd showed.
The index of sentiment rose 4 points to minus 18, the research group said in an e-mailed statement in London today. Economists predicted a drop to minus 24, according to the median of 16 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. Gfk NOP questioned 2,000 people from July 30 to August 15.
“A further fall would have made a double-dip recession seem a very real prospect,” Nick Moon, managing director of GfK NOP Social Research, said in the statement. “The single biggest improvement has been in confidence in the economy in the next 12 months and this looks particularly encouraging on first sight,” though it “merely reverses a similarly large drop in July”.
The economy expanded 1.2 per cent in the second quarter as a jump in construction and stock rebuilding by companies powered the biggest growth spurt since 2001, data on August 27 showed. Bank of England Deputy Governor Charles Bean cautioned the next day that officials may need to expand emergency stimulus to support the recovery.
The pound fell 0.2 per cent today, trading at $1.5430 at 9.55 am in London. The yield on the two-year note fell 2 basis points to 0.63 per cent.
GfK NOP’s index of confidence in the economy in the next year increased to minus 14 from minus 25 in July.
