Activity in New Zealand’s services sector lifted slightly in October, according to the BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI).
The PSI for October was 51.4, which was up 1 point from September (A PSI reading above 50.0 indicates that the service sector is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining).
BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope said that while the overall small lift in expansion was positive, the sub-indices that make up the main result were mixed.
“New Orders/Business (58.4) lifted to its highest result since June, along with Stocks/Inventories (51.7) returning to expansion since July. However, Employment (49.5) remains in contraction for the 8th consecutive month, while Production (49.9) fell back down under the 50.0 mark”.
BNZ Senior Economist Craig Ebert said that “October’s PSI was still shy of its historical average of 54.0. This was perhaps more disappointing than was the case for the PMI as the service sectors should arguably have been exhibiting a stronger rebound.”