By Charlotte Beugge

Britain's retailers saw sales rise in December, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics - but this was mainly because they cut prices in the run-up to Christmas.

The figures show that sales rose by 0.6% in December compared with November and were up 2.6% over the year to December. Clothing and footwear sales did best, rising1.8% on the year. But spending on household goods was 2.4% below last year's levels, the biggest drop since April 2010.

Retailers have had a tough time recently, with chains including Peacocks, La Senza and Blacks Leisure going into administration. Tesco, Dixons and HMV were among those which reported falls in sales.

But the news bucked the market with retail shares rising in early trading. Marks & Spencer shares increased by 1.07% and shares in JD Sport and Dixons were also up.

While you may not hold shares direct in any retailer, if you've got a FTSE All Share or 100 index tracker fund then you have money in the largest stock market-listed store groups.

Those with holdings in managed UK funds may have some money in retailers - Psigma Income has about 2.96% of its money in Tesco, according to Hargreaves Lansdown.

As cyclical stocks, retailers' shares are not always popular with funds with a defensive stance. Cyclical stocks are ones which are heavily dependent on the economic situation for their performance - and an economic downturn means less spending in shops.