SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia’s consumer sentiment turned optimistic in November for the first time in almost four years thanks to a much better outlook for family finances and the economy, a survey showed on Tuesday, even as the central bank held interest rates steady.

A Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey showed its main index of consumer sentiment surged 12.8% to 103.8 in November, a seven-year high, excluding the COVID-19 pandemic period. The reading above 100 suggested optimists outnumbered pessimists for the first time since February 2022.

“This is an extraordinary and somewhat surprising result,” said Matthew Hassan, Westpac’s head of Australian macro-forecasting.

“The survey shows that the dent from a changed outlook for interest rates has been more than offset by other positives,

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