FOOTBALL fans tuning into Euro 2004 helped boost retail sales last month, official figures showed.

Supporters flocking to buy televisions and replica soccer shirts contributed to a 1.1 per cent increase in sales volumes between May and June, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

The rise, from 0.7 per cent in May, drove retail sales to their highest level since June last year.

It also represented the 13th consecutive month that sales volumes were either flat or had recorded positive growth.

In the three months to June, the seasonally adjusted index for retail sales at constant 2000 prices was 1.9 per cent higher than in the previous three months, against 1.8 per cent in the three months to May and 1.7 per cent in the three months to April.

The figures are likely to bolster the already strong conviction among analysts that the Bank of England will increase interest rates by at least a quarter percentage point next month.

They said this may strengthen the sterling exchange rate and, on balance, put downward pressure on the Footsie.