Morrisons and Tesco today reported sharp declines in sales after a "very challenging" Christmas for the supermarket sector.

Industry leader Tesco said like-for-like sales were down 2.4% in the six weeks to January 4, while a fall of 5.6% at Morrisons led the Bradford-based chain to warn that profits will be short of some City hopes.

Morrisons said consumers had been managing their budgets very tightly and were shopping across a range of formats and retailers.

The latest downbeat figures from the sector come amid recent market share gains for discount rivals Aldi and Lidl.