New Zealand - ANZ Truckometer for March: -0.4% m/m( prior was -1.3%)

New Zealand - ANZ Truckometer for March

Comes in at -0.4% m/m, with the prior revised from -1.3% to -0.4% also

Key points from ANZ:

• The ANZ Truckometer is a measure of economic activity using real-time traffic data. It is timely and contains hard activity data as opposed to measuring sentiment

• The ANZ Heavy Traffic Index fell 0.4% in the month of March, but is up 0.8% in the first quarter of the year (seasonally adjusted)

• The ANZ Light Traffic Index leads GDP by six months. It was flat in March, though is up 1.6% in Q1 (sa)
• The Heavy Traffic Index suggests slightly more modest GDP growth in Q1 than was experienced in late 2014, around 0.5-0.6% q/q.We are expecting a drought impact on GDP in the first half of this year, but anticipate a reasonable Q1 number nonetheless. The trend in the Heavy Traffic Index remains firmly upwards

• The Light Traffic Index suggests the economy should have plenty of momentum over the next 6 months
• The New Zealand economy looks set to truck on as long as events offshore don't spoil the party.With New Zealand's economic train firmly hitched to a China locomotive, falling dairy prices and indeed wider commodity trends are becoming more of a worry in terms of what they are signalling.