New Zealand Performance Of Services Index Rises To 55.4 - BusinessNZ

(RTTNews) - The services sector in New Zealand continued to expand in October, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from BusinessNZ revealed on Monday with a Performance of Services Index score of 55.4.

That's up from the upwardly revised 54.5 in September (originally 54.4) and it moves farther above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

Among the individual components, sales, employment, new orders and inventories all expanded - while supplier deliveries contracted.

"The firming in the PSI has been complemented by a sharp recovery in the Performance of Manufacturing Index for October. Between the two of them, they now indicate annual GDP growth of closer to 2 percent than the 1 percent they portrayed just months ago," said BNZ Senior Economist Craig Ebert.