Morrisons was the only one of the big four supermarkets to experience sales growth in the 12 weeks ending 20 June, according to new figures from Nielsen.

The multiple saw a 1.4% year-on-year sales increase during the period, while its shoppers spent 4.0% per visit more than they did a year ago. In contrast, the average spend per visit across the supermarkets as a whole dropped 1.5%.

Asda suffered the biggest decrease in year-on-year sales among the top 10 supermarkets – down 3.8% - while Tesco’s sales dropped by 1.7%.

“Asda is falling behind its peer group, in contrast to Morrisons where things are looking encouraging. Sainsbury’s performance remains broadly the same whilst Tesco’s fall in sales is now slowing,” said Nielsen’s UK head of retailer and business insight Mike Watkins.

“Looking ahead, the early part of July is set for good weather – good news for food retailers and many brands,” he added. “This encourages shoppers to spend more, with increased visits and larger basket spends, particularly in fresh, chilled and impulse categories. This is likely to benefit the ‘Big Four’ who’ve a greater depth of range in their larger stores.”

The volume of items purchased from the UK’s leading supermarkets increased year-on-year for the seventh consecutive month in the four weeks ending 20 June, at 0.3%.

“Deflation is taking the edge off sales growths but supermarkets are still seeing sustained, albeit small, growth in volumes,” Watkins added.