U.K. retail sales volumes drop 1.1% in April

LONDON (MarketWatch)
Retail sales volumes in the U.K. dropped 1.1% in April vs. a year earlier and were down 2.3% compared with March 2012, according to a report Wednesday from the Office for National Statistics
That marks the biggest year-on-year fall since August of last year, when volumes slipped 1.2% Economists were looking for an annual increase of 1%, according to Reuters
The report blamed weakness in the automotive fuel sector. Retail sales values rose by 0.4% last month vs. a year earlier, representing the slowest rate of growth since January 2012