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LONDON BRIEFING:WITH JUST 36 days to go until Christmas, the battle for festive spending is already well under way on the High Street. Today Debenhams launches a £250 million (€282.6 million) four-day sale, offering discounts of up to 50 per cent, as it attempts to steal business from its rivals. Last week Asda and Tesco announced price cuts on thousands of lines, worth a combined £400 million to customers, writes FIONA WALSH

It may look like a pre-Christmas price war but the promotions will have been long planned by the retailers - and the hit on their margins factored in - as part of the now traditional cat-and-mouse game between shoppers and the stores in the run-up to December 25th. Customers leave their buying as late as they dare in the hope of securing extra discounts while the retailers try to whip up interest with promotions, accompanied by vague threats that stocks of the best-selling lines may sell out before the big day.