Business NZ / BNZ Performance of Services Index for March 2019:
52.9
- prior 53.6, revised from 53.8
- 52.9 is the lowest level since December 2012
- Long term average is 54.5
BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope:
- New orders/business (54.9), which is a key component to overall activity, dropped to its lowest point since September 2012.
- Activity/sales (52.5) also slipped further
- proportion of positive comments for March (55.8%) was up on February (52.4%) and January (54.0%)
BNZ Senior Economist Doug Steel:
- PSI trends remain ok
- a slower March reading heightens focus on the next few months to see if the slower pace is transitory or not
---
Little change for the NZD … this data pint does not tend to move the currency much upon release.
Last week we got the manufacturing PMI from this group, link.