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Asda outshines suitor Sainsbury's in last 12 weeks - Kantar Worldpanel

* Asda alone among big four in holding market share

* Asda sales up 1.5 pct, Sainsbury (Amsterdam: SJ6.AS - news) 's down 0.2 pct

* Overall UK market grows at slowest rate since March 2017

* Tesco (Frankfurt: 852647 - news) , Sainsbury's, Morrisons shares fall

(Adds detail, table, shares)

LONDON, Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) 11 (Reuters) - Asda, the British arm of Walmart

that has agreed a takeover by rival Sainsbury's

, was alone among the country's big four grocers in

holding its market share in the latest 12-week period, industry

data showed on Tuesday.

Asda's sales rose 1.5 percent in the 12 weeks to Dec. 2 and

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it maintained its UK grocery market share at 15.0 percent,

market researcher Kantar Worldpanel said.

In contrast Sainsbury's sales slipped 0.2 percent and its

share dipped to 16.0 percent from 16.4 percent a year ago.

Sainsbury's, Britain's second largest supermarket group,

agreed a 7.3 billion pound ($9.3 billion) takeover of Asda, the

number three, in April, a combination that could overtake Tesco (Swiss: TSCO.SW - news)

as Britain's biggest supermarket group.

The deal is currently being investigated by Britain's

regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, which is

expected to publish its initial findings next month.

Sainsbury's shares were down 0.8 percent at 0915 GMT.

Tesco's sales declined 0.1 percent, while Morrisons' were up

0.5 percent.

Tesco's shares were down 1 percent, while Morrisons' were

down 2 percent.

German-owned discounters Aldi and Lidl continued

to be the big winners with sales increases of 12.2 percent and

11.2 percent respectively, partly reflecting aggressive store

opening programmes.

Kantar Worldpanel said overall UK grocery sales rose 2.0

percent over the 12-week period, its slowest rate since March

2017.

"Consumers are benefiting from falling inflation. It now

stands at 1.6 percent – less than half the rate of inflation in

December 2017, when it reached 3.6 percent – leading to a

slowdown in the overall market," said Fraser McKevitt, head of

retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel.

Prices are rising fastest in products such as cola,

sparkling wine and dog food, while falling in fresh pork,

ambient cooking sauces and fruit.

Market share and sales (percent)

12 wks to 12 wks to pct change

Dec. 2, 2018 Dec. 3, 2017 in sales

Tesco 27.6 28.2 -0.1

Sainsbury's 16.0 16.4 -0.2

Asda 15.0 15.0 1.5

Morrisons 10.5 10.6 0.5

Aldi 7.6 6.9 12.2

Co-operative 6.2 6.0 4.5

Lidl 5.6 5.1 11.2

Waitrose 4.9 5.0 -0.7

Iceland 2.2 2.2 1.8

Ocado 1.1 1.1 3.4

Source: Kantar Worldpanel

($1 = 0.7857 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey

Editing by Paul Sandle/Keith Weir)