ENTERTAINMENT retailer HMV maintained a cautious outlook for UK consumer spending today, des-pite a 6.4 per cent hike in underlying sales at Christmas.

HMV said a "very late surge in demand" had kept it on course to meet its full-year targets after weak trading hurt sales in November and early December.

Albums by U2 and Scissor Sisters helped like-for-like sales at its core HMV stores, which includes branches in Southampton and Winchester, to rise by 4.3 per cent in the five weeks to January 8.

HMV said its share of the DVD market was strong on the back of best-sellers such as the Little Britain comedy series and screen blockbuster I Robot.

The reassurance came after weak demand for autumn blockbusters at high street chain Woolworths had jangled market nerves ahead of today's update.

Meanwhile supermarket giant Tesco, which employs thousands of people in Hampshire in its stores and a super-sized distribution centre near Southampton, left its rivals trailing after reporting a strong jump in sales figures for the Christmas period.

The group, which is on course to break the £2 billion profits barrier in this financial year, said total sales in the UK grew by 12.1 per cent with the like-for-like figure up by 7.6 per cent when excluding petrol sales.

The performance for the seven weeks to January 8 compares with a like-for-like Christmas sales fall of 0.4 per cent for Sainsbury's and a 0.1 per cent rise for Safeway owner Morrisons.

Fashion chain Monsoon was another festive success story, announcing it had overcome tough trading conditions on the high street to post a 32 per cent hike in first half profits.

Monsoon said: "We recognise that we are currently trading in difficult environments but we are confident that we will deliver a satisfactory performance for the full year."