HIGH street sales resumed their slowdown last month after a brief pick-up during the January bargain hunts, official figures show.

The volume of retail sales in February grew by only 0.2 per cent, compared with a revised figure of 0.7 per cent the month before, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Clothing shops and the non-store sector, such as Internet and catalogue retailers, increased their sales in February, but sales by all other stores fell.

The numbers are likely to bolster the case of analysts predicting that the Bank of England will refrain from raising interest rates in the next few months. The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee held rates at 4.75 per cent in March for the seventh month in succession.

Commentators said committee members were likely to have wanted more evidence of higher consumer spending and revival in the housing market before raising rates.

The volume of retail sales in the three months between December and February fell by 0.6 per cent against the previous three months. That follows a decrease of 0.2 per cent in the three months to January, the lowest since March 2003.