New Zealand Services Index Slumps In March - BusinessNZ

(RTTNews) - The services sector in New Zealand fell into contraction territory in March, the latest survey from BusinessNZ revealed on Monday with a Performance of Services Index score of 47.5.

That's down from 52.6 in February, and it slips beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

Among the individual components, sales (44.8), new orders (48.3), stocks (46.9) and supplier deliveries (48.7) all contracted, while employment (50.1) saw mild expansion.

"Combining today's weak PSI activity with last week's similarly weak PMI activity, yields a composite reading that would be consistent with GDP falling below by more than 2 percent compared to year earlier levels. That is much weaker than what folk are forecasting," BNZ Senior Economist Doug Steel said.