According to a survey by National Australia Bank, business confidence in Australia fell in the month of April. This was reported he second consecutive month when business confidence was reported down. NAB said that the decline in business confidence was mainly attributable to the weaker retail sales and rising interest rates.

National Australia Bank's monthly business survey revealed that the index for business confidence was reported of +13 in April, decreasing by 3 points while it was reported of +17 points in the month of March. However, NAB said that the index was still above the long run average of +7 points.

NAB reported that the index for business conditions fell 5 points to +8 and capacity utilization index fell 0.1 points to +82.0 in the month of April. NAB also said that the forward orders were reported down in April while trading, employment and profitability also fell in the month.

The NAB survey revealed that the retail index fell 26 points to -19 in April, while transportation index was reported down by 19 points in the month of April.