Tesco is the number one favourite stock with UK non-professional investors, according to a survey made by Barclays Stockbrokers, the online execution-only retail broker.

Just under half of respondents named the UK-based supermarket as the retail stock with the best investment potential. Tesco’s rival Sainsbury’s was number two on the list, with the significantly lower score of 18 per cent.

When asked about their outlook for the retail sector, just over half said that the UK retail sector was on their radar, and two fifths said they are already holding UK retail stocks in their investment portfolio. At the same time, nearly a third said they were avoiding the sector as they think the outlook is uncertain and another 16 per cent that they are not interested in the sector at all.

The research, which was conducted for the first time, surveyed about 1,200 investors.