New Zealand Performance Of Services Index Ebbs In September - BusinessNZ

(RTTNews) - The services sector in New Zealand continued to expand in September, albeit at a slightly slower rate, the latest survey from BusinessNZ revealed on Monday with a Performance of Services score of 50.9.

That's down from 51.0 in August, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

Among the individual components of the survey, sales (50.2), new orders (52.6) and stocks (52.3) expanded, while employment (49.8) and supplier deliveries (49.4) contracted.

"This marks a fourth month of expansion, a notable feat after two years of contraction. But growth in the services sector remains weak, particularly compared to manufacturing as indicated by the Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI), which has sat well above 50 for some time," BNZ Senior Economist Doug Steel said.