New Zealand Services Index Slumps In April - BusinessNZ

(RTTNews) - The services sector in New Zealand continued to contract in April, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from BusinessNZ revealed on Monday with a Performance of Services Index score of 47.1.

That's down from the downwardly revised 47.2 in March (originally 42.5) and it moves further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

Individually, sales (46.5), employment (47.1), new orders (47.1), stocks (46.6) and supplier deliveries (47.6) all contracted in April.

"Combining today's weak PSI with last week's PMI yields a composite reading that would be consistent with GDP tracking below year earlier levels into the middle of this year. That is what we expect and, if anything, the combined index suggests some downside risk to our forecasts," said BNZ Senior Economist Doug Steel.