High street sales have beaten expectations by growing in the year to August, helped by the summer weather and visitors lured by the fall in sterling.

The latest CBI survey will be welcome relief for retailers, who just last month suffered sales falling at their fastest pace in more than four years.

The CBI's Distributive Trades Survey of 131 firms, of which 58 were retailers, shows that the volume of sales grew modestly over the year to August, beating expectations for a further fall this month.

However, sales volumes look set to be broadly flat over the next month.

The poll found 35% of retailers said that sales volumes were up in August on a year ago, while 26% said they were down, giving a rounded balance of +9% compared with last month's -14%.

A quarter of firms (25%) expect sales volumes to increase next month while 22% expect a decrease, giving a balance of +3%.

While supermarket sales were broadly flat, clothing sales were up 39% and internet sales also outstripped expectations with similar growth expected next month.

While retailers anticipate a further small improvement in their business situation, sentiment is improving at a slower rate than over the past year, the survey found.

Average selling prices fell 5% on a year ago, after rising over the first half of this year.

CBI head of economic analysis and surveys, Anna Leach, said: "The summer weather has brought shoppers out on to the high street with retailers reporting that sales growth has risen, outdoing expectations, although firms do expect sales growth to ease next month.

"While the fall in Sterling has boosted visitor numbers to the UK, it is likely to push up the price of imported goods over time which will mean households will be more likely to rein back spending on non-essentials."

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