New Zealand Credit Card Transactions Rise 0.4%

(RTTNews) - Total electronic card transactions in New Zealand added a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent on month in February, Statistics New Zealand said on Tuesday.

That beat expectations for an increase of 0.2 percent following the 0.1 percent increase in January.

Retail credit card transactions climbed 1.0 percent on month - also beating forecasts for an increase of 0.4 percent following the 0.4 percent decline in the previous month.

"After removing seasonal effects, spending rose in five of the six retail industries," business indicators manager Neil Kelly said. "Hospitality and durables had the largest rises, while fuel rose for the first time in three months."

Spending in the core retail industries (which excludes the vehicle-related industries) gained 1.2 percent following a 1.0 percent rise in January.

Retail spending using electronic cards was up NZ$160 million (3.8 percent) to NZ$4.4 billion in February compared with a year earlier.

Trends for the total, retail, and core retail series have generally been rising since these series began in October 2002, the bureau said - although the total and retail series have eased in recent months.