Australia's retail-to-coal conglomerate Wesfarmers's subsidiary Coles continued to close the gap on Woolworths during the December quarter reporting on Thursday that second-quarter sales growth exceeded its larger rival's.

The expansion included record-breaking Christmas sales despite price deflation and weak consumer sentiment.

At the top line, sales in the core food and liquor division of Coles rose 4.3 percent to AUD7.34 billion (USD7.87b). The pace exceeded the 4.1 percent quarterly expansion at Woolworths's Australian supermarkets, reported earlier this week.