Business
Retail sales boosted by sunny weather and football in July

Sunny weather and the women’s Euro football tournament helped to lift retail sales in July, according to the latest official figures.
Retail sales volumes rose by 0.6% in July, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which was higher than analysts’ forecasts.
The release of the figures had been delayed by two weeks over concerns about the quality of the data.
The ONS has come under fire recently over the reliability of some of its statistics.
While sales volumes in July rose, sales in the three months to July were down 0.6% when compared with the previous three months.
“Supermarkets, sports shops and household goods stores had a strong start to the year, but spending there has fallen since March,” said the ONS’s director general of economic statistics, James Benford.
However, he added this was partially offset by strong sales online and at clothing and footwear stores.
Mr Benford apologised for errors in past data, and said the ONS had “improvement plans” in place.
The ONS had delayed the latest retail sales figures after it discovered a problem with its data, which meant that seasonal adjustments had not been made properly.
The latest release from the ONS revises most of the retail sales data for the past year.
“The new figures published today show a similar overall pattern of three-month on three-month growth, but with less volatile month-on-month changes,” Mr Benford said.
ONS statistics are used in deciding government policy which affects millions, and are used by the Bank of England to make key financial decisions.
The ONS said online retailers and clothing stores saw strong sales growth in July, which retailers put down to new products, the hot weather, and an increase resulting from the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 tournament.
However, Paul Dales from Capital Economics warned that both these factors were boosts that “won’t be repeated”.
Dr Kris Hamer from the British Retail Consortium said July was a “good month for retail sales, as the warm, sunny weather and packed sporting schedule in the first half of the month got people spending”.
“Unfortunately, this level of sales growth makes little dent on the £7bn of new costs that retailers are having to shoulder following last year’s Budget.”
Business
Stock Market Update: Is There Trading On NSE, BSE This Monday, September 8? Check

New Delhi: India’s festive season kicked off in September with Eid-e-Milad and Onam being celebrated across different parts of the country. Despite the festivities, stock market operations have continued without disruption. However, a bit of confusion did arise among traders and investors over whether the markets would remain open on September 8, after the RBI shifted the earlier-declared money market holiday from September 5 to September 8.
Both NSE and BSE will remain open on September 8, with trading beginning as usual at 9:15 AM, unaffected by the festive celebrations.
Will Markets Remain Open on September 8?
Yes, but only the money market. The Maharashtra government has shifted the money market holiday from September 5 to September 8, which was earlier aligned with Eid-e-Milad. This change was made to keep settlement cycles smooth on September 5. However, equity markets will remain unaffected. Trading will continue as usual on September 8 and on all other weekdays for the rest of September 2025. (Also Read: Notification On Handling Goods Stocked Under Higher GST Slabs Soon)
Because of the Eid-e-Milad settlement holiday on September 8, mutual fund transactions will see slight changes in processing. Any purchase or redemption requests made after the cut-off time on September 5 in liquid or debt schemes will now be processed on September 9.
Transactions like allotments and redemptions set for September 8 will be settled a day later, on September 9. The only exception is equity schemes, which will be processed as usual on September 8. Redemption fund payouts, however, will not take place on September 5 or September 8. (Also Read:Â Govt Launches Angikaar 2025 Campaign Under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban 2.0)
Upcoming Stock Market Holidays in 2025
– October 2 – Markets closed for Gandhi Jayanti.
– No separate holiday for Dussehra, since it also falls on October 2 this year.
– October 22 – Markets closed the day after Diwali, as per the usual schedule.
Stock Market Holidays in November and December 2025
In the last two months of 2025, markets will close on two occasions. November 5 will be a holiday to mark Guru Nanak’s Birthday, and on December 25, trading will remain shut for Christmas. Christmas is one of the rare days when stock markets across the globe also stay closed.
Muhurat Trading 2025: Date and Time
Just like every year, a special Muhurat Trading session will be held on Diwali day, October 21, 2025. The session will run for one hour, from 6:15 PM to 7:15 PM, during the auspicious time of Lakshmi Puja. Though largely symbolic, Muhurat Trading is considered a lucky time to invest, and many traders and investors participate to mark the beginning of a prosperous year.
Business
Jaguar Land Rover staff to stay at home after cyber attack

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has instructed factory staff to stay at home until at least Tuesday as the company continues to grapple with the fallout from a cyber attack.
The attack at the weekend forced the company to take vital IT systems offline, which has affected car sales and production.
Production remains halted at car factories in Halewood on Merseyside and Solihull in the West Midlands, as well as at its engine manufacturing centre in Wolverhampton.
The situation remains under review and output could remain suspended for longer.
Car sales have also been heavily disrupted, although the BBC understands some transactions have been able to take place.
JLR, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors, shut down its systems on Sunday in order to limit potential damage from the cyber attack.
It is now working to restore them in a controlled manner, but this is understood to be a highly complex process. It is also introducing work-arounds for systems that remain offline.
The attack occurred at what is traditionally a popular time for consumers to take delivery of a new vehicle. The latest batch of new registration plates became available on 1 September.
The disruption extends well beyond JLR’s own production lines, with its network of parts suppliers also forced to restrict their operations. Some have complained of a lack of transparency from the company.
Some repair garages have also warned that existing Jaguar or Land Rover owners may face delays if their cars need new parts.
James Wallis of Nyewood Express, an independent garage in West Sussex that repairs and services Land Rovers, told the BBC’s Today programme that he “can’t look up what I need to repair cars”.
“Essentially the parts list is a giant database of items that relates to every single car,” he said. “And if I can’t find the parts, I can’t buy them. I can’t fix the car.”
He added: “If you need parts which come from just one source and you can’t find them, you can’t order them. The job stops. You cannot repair the car. The car sits idle, and the poor old customer has to wait.”
On Wednesday a hacker group which was also responsible for a highly damaging attack on Marks and Spencer earlier in the year said it had infiltrated JLR’s systems.
The group of young English-speaking hackers – who are thought to be teens calling themselves “Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters” – told the BBC how they allegedly accessed the car maker but have not revealed if they successfully stole private data from JLR or installed malicious software onto the company’s network.
The group posted two images, which showed apparent internal instructions for troubleshooting a car charging issue and internal computer logs.
A security expert said those screenshots suggested the group had access to information they should not have.
JLR says it is investigating the hack, but there is no evidence at this stage any customer data has been stolen.
In 2023, as part of an effort to “accelerate digital transformation across its business”, JLR signed a five-year, £800m deal with corporate stablemate Tata Consultancy Services to provide cybersecurity and a range of other IT services.
The halt in production is a fresh blow to the firm which recently revealed a slump in profits attributed to an increase in costs caused by US tariffs.
Business
Rupee Hits All-Time Low Of 88.36 Against US Dollar; Likely RBI Intervention Caps Losses

Last Updated:
The rupee fell to 88.36 against the U.S. dollar, eclipsing its previous all-time low of 88.33 hit on September 1

Rupee depreciates against dollar.
The Indian rupee slipped to a record low on Friday as traders remained jittery over news related to U.S. tariffs on India, while likely dollar-selling intervention by the Reserve Bank of India curbed sharper losses, traders said.
The rupee fell to 88.36 against the U.S. dollar, eclipsing its previous all-time low of 88.33 hit on September 1. The currency was last at 88.2750, down 0.1% on the day.
Traders cited strong buying from foreign banks amid speculation about ongoing tariff pressures on India from the U.S.
The “spike on USD/INR was caused by worries of higher tariffs on India but state-run banks stepped in over 88.30 to cap losses, most likely on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India,” a senior trader at a bank said.
Merchant flows are relatively muted today so activity is skewed towards the dollar buying side, the trader added.
MUFG said the rupee could weaken to 89 by the first quarter of calendar year 2026 under the assumption that the steep tariffs remain for now but are eventually lowered to 25% sometime next year.
Foreign portfolio investors have continued to withdraw from Indian equities with net sales of $1.4 billion so far in September, taking the total outflow so far this year to over $16 billion.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Reuters)
Aparna Deb is a Subeditor and writes for the business vertical of News18.com. She has a nose for news that matters. She is inquisitive and curious about things. Among other things, financial markets, economy, a…Read More
Aparna Deb is a Subeditor and writes for the business vertical of News18.com. She has a nose for news that matters. She is inquisitive and curious about things. Among other things, financial markets, economy, a… Read More
September 05, 2025, 13:28 IST
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