The Australian dollar held near a six-month high on the sterling on Thursday, while bond futures jumped to the highest level since early June as a surprisingly low reading on UK inflation reinforced bets of early and aggressive global policy easing. The Aussie hovered at £0.5334, after hitting a six-month top of £0.5355 overnight as the pound tumbled across the board. A sharp easing in British inflation to the lowest level in over two years in November led markets to fully price in a rate cut in May next year. Two-year gilt yields - which are sensitive to market interest rate expectations - tumbled more than 19 basis ... (full story)