MELBOURNE, Nov 26 (Reuters) - U.S. clothing chain Gap said its first three months of trading in Australia have been at the high end of expectations and it anticipates a strong Christmas, defying a trend of soft sales at local retailers. A senior executive told Reuters there had not been any noticeable dip in demand since a surprise interest rate hike on Nov. 2, which has dampened consumer sentiment more broadly.
Gap, which opened its first store in Melbourne in August and followed up with Sydney in October, is looking to open up to 15 stores in coming years as part of a push in Asia to offset soft sales at home.
In Melbourne, "the sales since opening have been at the high end of our business expectations", Gap's head of strategic alliances, Stefan Laban, said in an email to Reuters from London.
He said sales in the Sydney store's first month were very strong -- "way above our expectations and we had to move additional product to Australia to support both stores". (Reporting by Victoria Thieberger; editing by Mark Bendeich)