Asda emerged victorious after another tussle with Morrisons to produce the cheapest basket. Just 36p separated their totals, but Morrisons - which entered the price war this week by slashing 2,000 prices - was undercut by Asda on 14 items. Asda's achievement was all the more remarkable for the fact that its £53.01 basket contained just four of the list's cheapest items this week - considerably down on last week's 12 products. Indeed, compared with the recent spate of price hikes and cuts, it was a quiet week for changes across all five retailers. The most significant of Asda's savings was on sweet potatoes, which were a list-beating £1 compared with £1.28 at Morrisons. It also reduced its Hovis loaf by 8p to 92p, making it 27p cheaper than Morrisons. However, while it increased the price of its pineapple by 20p, Asda upped its fruit by 48p to £1.98, making it the second most expensive. Tesco was cheapest after cutting its price by 78p to £1. Morrisons' biggest saving was on own-label champagne, which was £1 lower than Asda's. Its £53.37 basket contained four other lowest price items including a mango for 20p less than Asda's and 27p tuna chunks, 10p cheaper than at the rest of the big four. However, its savings were not big enough to steal the top spot from Asda. With a £55.11 basket, Tesco remained in third place, with the reduction on pineapple its only price change this week. Sainsbury's was the most expensive of the big four on nine items and retained fourth place with a £56.84 basket. Although its Optivita was 69p cheaper than Asda's, and it reduced its bananas to 67p to match the rest of the big four, the price of its other items remained static. Two items that were most expensive in Sainsbury's were, surprisingly, cheapest at Waitrose. The light bulb and Ocean Spray were £2.09 and £1.17 respectively at Sainsbury's and £1.49 and 59p at Waitrose. Although Waitrose also had the cheapest pitta bread, at 45p, it had 23 of the highest prices. These included £12.99 champagne, which was £1 more than last week.

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