Australian central bank keeps rates on hold despite weak retail sales

Elsewhere, in what was a relatively quiet day yesterday in the markets due to the US bank holiday we saw some interesting moves from the more exotic currencies from the lack of liquidity in the markets. We saw losses from a lot of the European currencies following in the footsteps of the euro itself, notable losses came from the Polish zloty and Danish krone as they lost against both sterling and the US dollar. Elsewhere the South African rand gained back some of its losses from late last week and this momentum could continue into the week following a calm mining season and the news of Mandela improving health. Overnight we saw Australian retail sales come out much weaker than expected, but as expected the Reserve Bank of Australia keep interest rate on hold at 2.5%. Also this morning we saw Swiss GDP figures beat market expectations posting growth of 0.5% when only 0.3% had been anticipated. Call in now for a live price from the market.