The Audit Bureau of Circulations figures for September published today show circulation increases for both The Observer and The Sunday Times. On average The Observer sold 385,617 copies each weekend, up 6.59% on August's figures. The Sunday Times' circulation increased by 3.63% to 1,207,141.

During August publishers expect to shift fewer copies owing to the holiday season. All in all however, both papers are still recording year-on-year declines.

Similarly The Sunday Telegraph saw a rise in sales, albeit by an average of just 249 copies each weekend. The paper's circulation remained below the 600,000 mark at 599,380, a year-on-year drop of 3.58%.

The Independent on Sunday recorded a 2.72% drop in sales and a 14.29% decline year on year. Bulks made up 36,010 of the paper's 156,433 circulation.

Despite the second best year-on-year results among the national quality dailies, The Daily Telegraph skirted dangerously close to the 800,000 daily sales mark, coming in 1.51% down on August's figures.

The Independent slipped 15.60% year on year to sell an average of 186,490 copies last month, a fall of 0.72%. It sold 39,567 bulks.

Sales of the Guardian dropped 9.72% year on year to 314,963, although the paper had recently decided to remove bulk copies from its figures. The Guardian's month-on-month figures showed the paper's September circulation was up 1.15% compared with the previous month.

The only other daily quality to experience an increase in sales month on month was the Financial Times, up 3.21% to get back over the 400,000 mark at 408,544. The financial title's sales dropped 4.85% year on year.

The Times' sales fell 10.43% year on year to 571,506, although this represented a mere 0.81% drop month on month. It sold 47,858 copies as bulk sales.

The only popular UK daily national newspaper to record a year-on-year circulation rise in September was The Daily Star. Thanks to a price cut to 20p last November, the tabloid has enjoyed almost a year of circulation gains and saw sales rise by 18% year on year last month to 863,559 copies. Month-on-month circulation down by 2.62% however.

The Sun, which was the only paper to record a month-on-month circulation rise in August, saw its sales slip in September by 1.57% month on month to 3,079,45% and by 2.39% year on year.

Both the Daily Mail and the Daily Express saw month-on-month and year-on-year decreases in the mid market. Sales of the Daily Mail dropped marginally by 0.54% compared with August, to 2,159,931. The Daily Express sold 712,023 copies a day on average last month - down 2.49% on August.

The News of the World saw circulation rise 0.26% month on month in September, to 3,129,162. This represented a sales decline of 3.48% year on year.

Source: Guardian