Asda has wrested the cheapest retailer title back from Morrisons as milk and bananas bore sweeping price changes this week. Asda sparked the banana price war last week by reducing them from 77p to 72p. The rest of the big four followed suit, but on Friday Asda had cut the price a further 5p to 67p. Tesco followed on Monday. On the other hand, Asda and Tesco were first to increase the price of fresh semi-skimmed milk from £1.34 to £1.44, with the other retailers quickly matching the new price. But with 12 of the cheapest items on the list, Asda provided the lowest-priced basket, at £63.75. Its key saving was on Birds Eye Simply Cod, which was £3 compared with £3.65 at Morrisons. Asda's Smirnoff Ice was also 52p less than the next-cheapest, Tesco's. Asda hiked up its Bold Powder by £2.78 this week and matched the prices at Morrisons and Tesco. Surprisingly, Morrisons' £64.87 basket contained just two of the cheapest products. Its avocado was 10p lower than last week, at 74p, and it undercut Asda on gammon by a substantial 65p. Asda and Morrisons shared the cheapest price of lettuce, at 75p. But Morrisons' total was weighed down by 39p and 23p hikes to the Seeds of Change sauce and eggs, respectively. Like Morrisons, Tesco only offered two of the cheapest items, although they were significantly lower than its rivals. Its Red Bull was £2.57, £1 less than Asda's, and it also undercut this week's winner on Seeds of Change sauce by 50p. But with a £66.30 basket, Tesco couldn't budge from last week's third place. Sainsbury's made the biggest cut of the week, taking £2.27 off Bold powder. However, it upped the gammon joint by £1.33 and its Lemsip and Seeds of Change sauce were the list's priciest, helping to keep it in fourth spot. At Waitrose, a 50p cut to pork pies was countered by a 50p hike in the price of grapes, and it offered 17 of the dearest items. Although its vegetable oil was the cheapest, it remained most expensive overall.

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