International News - Wal-Mart's tills ring up £900m in best day's trading

Shoppers swarmed into Wal-Mart's US stores last Friday - the day after Thanksgiving - delivering record single-day sales of US$1.43 billion (£912.9 million).

The surge bodes well for the Christmas selling season. The post-Thanksgiving weekend is one of the busiest shopping days of the year, but volume sales are usually higher the Saturday before Christmas.

Last year, the comparable post-Thanksgiving figure was US$1.25 billion (£798 million).

Wal-Mart announced that home electronic appliances and toys were the 'hottest' sellers.

'We look forward to a successful season,' said chief financial officer Tom Schoewe.

The store group - the world's biggest - was scheduled to report sales for the four weeks to November 29 yesterday.