05/11/13 – The RBA has elected to leave rates unchanged today, with the official cash rate remaining at 2.50%. They cited that accelerating house prices and a positive flow of economic news as a reason to keep rates on hold.

The decision was widely anticipated by the market, with the positives domestic news outweighing the political and economic uncertainty offshore.  The chance of a rate cut shrank to almost zero yesterday as new data showed house prices and retail sales are gaining momentum and the long-run decline in job advertisements was coming to an end.

A solid rise in department store, clothing and footwear sales helped lift national retail spending by 0.8 per cent in September to $22.15 billion, twice as quickly as economists had expected and the biggest monthly rise since February.