LONDON (Bloomberg) — The pound may decline after "weak" UK retail sales, according to Barclays Plc.

Data from the British Retail Consortium showed sales climbed in January at the slowest annual pace in at least 15 years. The Bank of England delivers its quarterly inflation report tomorrow.

"The retail sales number is undeniably weak and will add to pressures on the pound ahead of the crucial inflation report tomorrow," Barclays Capital analysts Paul Robinson and Arko Sen in London wrote yesterday in an e-mailed report. "We expect that to be even more downbeat than the market is currently expecting and think the pound has further downside in the short run."

The pound rose for the first day in five against the dollar, climbing 0.3 percent to $1.5635 as of 12.46 p.m. in London. Sterling lost 0.5 percent to 88.05 pence per euro.