Tesco continues to make ground in the supermarket wars, as the latest monthly data from TNS shows it managed to achieve a new high of 30.5 per cent market share in the 12 weeks to August 14. This figure compares to 30.4 per cent last month and 28.1 per cent last year.

Some of the gain came from Morrison's share, which fell to a new all-time low of 11.3 per cent, down from 11.5 per cent last month and 13.9 per cent last year.

However, with encouraging figures coming from the Safeway stores that have already been converted to the new Morrison's format, there is real hope that this trend will be reversed in future months.

In the convenience store market, Tesco's share has recently increased to nearly six per cent following the acquisition of 30 BP petrol stations and forecourt convenience stores from Morrison's.

Morrison's acquired the stores after the partnership between BP and Safeway was dissolved following Morrison's take-over of Safeway. The stores will soon be converted to the Tesco Metro format.

Following the announcement of PM Group's wheelie-bin contract with Worcester City Council, covered here two weeks ago, analysts at Williams de Broe have re-iterated their positive expectations for the stock. In addition to the recent contract win, analysts believe that the UK Government may adopt a similar compulsory recycling strategy to that which has already been adopted in Ireland.

Households there are charged by weight for any refuse that is not recycled. If this system were to be adopted, local councils would have to pay for on-board weighing systems, such as those supplied by PM group, to be fitted to all their refuse collection vehicles. Some pilot schemes are already in operation in the UK and PM Group is well placed to seize a significant share of the market if it is rolled out country-wide. PM Group's results are due out on September 16.

The FTSE 100 of leading blue chip companies has managed another rise over the week, following a couple of weeks of falling back. The leading index has been on a continuously upward trend since the end of April - as can be seen on the chart - thanks to merger and acquisition activity and strength from the mining and oil sectors. However, as the oil price continues its stellar rise - pushed up by strong demand from China and India, and supply worries due to geopolitical tensions and storm damage to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico - fears are rising that it will begin to impact on global growth.

We have already seen an up-tick in the price of petrol and it is likely to go up further if the oil price continues to rise. In the meantime, companies which use oil as a raw material will have to increase prices in order to cover their increased costs. This will fuel inflation and may eventually have to lead to an interest rate rise making consumers and home-owners feel the pinch even more. Combined, these factors suggest that the market is most likely to trade sideways over the coming months.