Tesco sales up 1.6 pct in 12 weeks to Dec. 4 - Kantar Worldpanel

LONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Sales at Britain's biggest supermarket chain Tesco (Frankfurt: 852647 - news) rose 1.6 percent in the 12 weeks to Dec. 4 as it continued to claw back market share, industry data showed on Tuesday.

Market researcher Kantar Worldpanel said Tesco's market share rose 0.3 percentage points to 28.3 percent over the three months - the third consecutive period that Tesco's market share has grown, according to Kantar.

Conversely the other three major players in the sector - Sainsbury (Amsterdam: SJ6.AS - news) 's, Asda and Morrisons - continued to lose share, though Morrisons' is partly explained by store closures.

Discounters Aldi and Lidl saw growth of 10.0 percent and 5.7 percent respectively.

Deflation was 0.1 percent over the period, Kantar said.

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young)