The services sector showed increased expansion during September, according to the BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI).

The PSI for September was 58.0.  This was 0.3 points up from August, and continues to show a consistent and healthy level of activity in the sector.  So far for 2014 the PSI has averaged 56.7 (A PSI reading above 50.0 indicates that the service sector is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining).

BusinessNZ chief executive Phil O’Reilly said that the September result was in fine form across the board, with the last three months of activity particularly strong.

“Looking at the combined results for July-September, it shows that the sector experienced its highest overall level of quarterly expansion since 2007”.

“In addition, both new orders/business and activity/sales both displayed results above the 60-point mark, which are key determinants for the overall result.  While the number of positive comments from respondents was down on previous months, there is nothing to suggest that growth will significantly ease as we enter the last quarter of the year.

BNZ Senior Economist Craig Ebert said “The latest PSI gelled with the NZIER’s recent Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion, in that it told of stronger than normal expansion in the services sector, and notably so for employment.”

For the fourth month in a row, all five main sub-indices were in expansion.  New orders/business (61.0) led the charge in September, followed by activity/sales (60.3), with both sub-indices over the 60-point mark.  After recording its highest value since the survey began, employment (55.0) produced a slightly lower level of expansion for September, although still near historic highs. Both supplier deliveries (53.2) and stocks/inventories (50.7) fell from August, but remained in positive territory.

Activity continued to remain positive throughout the country, which has now been the case for the last seven months.  In the North Island, the Northern region (56.5) experienced a result that was very similar to the previous month, while the Central region (57.1) edged up somewhat after a dip in expansion levels for August.  In the South Island, the Canterbury/Westland region (58.0) recovered strongly from its dip in expansion from the previous month, while the Otago/Southland region (66.0) returned to levels of activity seen in July.

The seasonally adjusted BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Composite Index or PCI (which combines the PMI and PSI) for September saw the two options for measuring the PCI both push past the 58 point mark.  The GDP-Weighted Index increased 0.4 points from August to stand at 58.2, while the Free-Weighted Index (58.7) rose 1.4 points from August, which meant they reached their highest level since April and March respectively.

Click here to view the September PSI & PCI
Click here to view the PSI timeseries data
Click here to view the PCI timeseries data

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