Survey highlights brisk Christmas sales

Shoppers came out in force on Thursday

The Christmas sales attracted 10% more people on Thursday than on the same day last year, research group FootFall said.

"There were defintely more people out and about in the shops yesterday," said David Smyth, FootFall's marketing manager.

The data, drawn from visitor numbers to 50 shopping centres, will raise hopes that UK consumers are shrugging off the downturn which has afflicted economies worldwide.

The resilience of UK retail sales has been largely credited with helping the UK avoid the economic stagnation which has beset countries including the US, Japan and Germany

Further evidence of thriving High Streets emerged in figures from supermarket giant Asda, which claimed sales rose, year on year, by more than 10% in the run up to Christmas.

Quiet Boxing Day

But figures for Boxing Day shopper numbers hinted at a less bouyant retail sector, with visitors up just 0.15%, FootFall said.

And while Asda's figures were promising, the company's refusal to reveal a detailed breakdown, on grounds that it is "commercially sensitive", hindered efforts to submit the data to close scrunity.

Asda, owned by US retail giant Wal-Mart, said 85 of its stores took £3m each between 12 December and Christmas Eve, with overall shopper numbers up 15%.

The six Asda Wal-Mart "supercentres" took an average of £5m each in the last 12 days before Christmas,

Overall sales rose by a "low double-digit figure", Asda said