Five John Lewis stores saw sales fall by more than 20% last week as the department store group was hit by heavy discounting by rivals.

The group's weekly trading update revealed a 23% drop at Nottingham, while stores at Peterborough, Reading, Bristol's Cribbs Causeway and Peter Jones, London, were also down by more than a fifth on year-on-year sales.

John Lewis disclosed on Sunday that sales across the division were down by more than 13% in the week to last Saturday. The period saw rivals Marks & Spencer and Debenhams hold discount days in a bid to drive footfall in the run up to Christmas.

One of the week's best sellers was Biscuit the Dog, a life size electronic toy retriever puppy that John Lewis said had sold in record numbers.

Supermarket chain Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Partnership, said sales were down for a second consecutive week by just under 4%.

Meanwhile, a huge sale bonanza is expected at Woolworth’s as administrators look to raise cash from a stock clearance. The fire sale will force other stores to drop prices even more to compete.

Troubled DIY giant B&Q has is closing nine Trade Depot superstores as owner Kingfisher reported a £15 million loss in the last financial year.

The closures are in response to falling sales and heavy losses from stores in China.

Kingfisher is the world’s third largest DIY group. The cash savings will be pumped in to the group’s other B&Q stores and the online Screwfix brand.

Other B&Q stores will swallow 230 jobs at the nine axed stores.

The FTSE closed at up 71 points at 4153 while Wall Street climbed 247 up at 8726.

The Pound stood its own against the US Dollar ($1.54) and the Euro (0.83p)