UK holds interest rates at 0.5pc

Australia is still the only country to have raised its official cash rate, after the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to leave interest rates at the historically low level of 0.5 per cent yesterday.
Rates have now been on hold for eight consecutive months and economists do not expect the committee to raise rates before 2010, according to The Telegraph.
While there has been growing speculation the MPC may raise rates in November, Sir John Gieve, deputy governor at the Royal Bank of Scotland, said a premature tightening of policy in the short term could derail a recovery.
The European Central Bank also voted to hold Eurozone interest rates at 1 per cent yesterday, and signalled that no change was imminent.