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Bloomberg
Black Friday gave UK retailers an unexpected boost in the run-up to the key Christmas trading period.
The volume of goods sold in stores and online jumped 1.4 percent in November, the most in six months, following two months of declines.
An increase of just 0.3 percent was forecast in a Bloomberg survey.
Office for National Statistics says increase driven by 5.3 percent rise in sales of household goods. Overall non-food sales rose 2.2 percent; food was unchanged. Sales will grow in the fourth quarter unless December sees a monthly decline of 1 percent or more. Annual sales growth accelerated to 3.6 percent. Promotions began as much as two weeks before Black Friday.