Sales at UK supermarket Asda continue to slide

LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) - Supermarket chain Asda, the British arm of Wal-Mart, reported a seventh straight quarter of declining underlying sales on Thursday, hurt by industry deflation and fierce competition.

Asda said sales at stores open over a year fell 5.7 percent in the 13 weeks to March 30, its fiscal first quarter.

That compares to a slump of 5.8 percent in the fourth quarter of Asda's 2015 financial year.

"The UK continues to struggle, due primarily to fierce competition," said Walmart's Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs.

"Improvements in price and product availability throughout the quarter were not enough to overcome traffic and food volume declines in our large format stores." (Reporting by James Davey, editing by Costas Pitas)