Tesco festive performance awaited

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Tesco is due to give details of its festive trading figures, with analysts believing it will match or exceed other supermarkets' strong performances.

Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons and Waitrose enjoyed a bumper holiday period as like-for-like sales, which exclude new stores, rose by 5% or more.

Tesco is expected to show continued rapid growth in non-food sales.

According to industry experts TNS, Tesco increased its UK market share over the holiday period.

Key barometer

TNS said Tesco had a 31.4% share of all sales through UK supermarkets in the 12 weeks ending 31 December.

Tesco's performance will be seen as a major barometer of how the retail sector fared over the holiday period.

In a recent analysis, stockbrokers Hargreaves Lansdown said that although there had been clear winners and losers, the sector had done "much better" than it could have hoped for.