New Zealand's Services Activity Strongest in Three-and-a-Half Years
By James Glynn
SYDNEY--Activity across New Zealand's services sector rose to its highest level in three and a half years in October, strengthening the view that the economy is in recovery.
The BNZ-BusinessNZ performance of services index stood at 51.7 in October, up 0.8 points from 50.9 in September.
Firms have been battling rising costs, an unstable geopolitical environment, rising interest rates, and caution ahead of an election, the result of which remains undeclared.
"Signs of firmer services activity are particularly welcome given the sector's importance to New Zealand's economy and, therefore, the broader outlook for GDP," said Doug Steel, senior economist at BNZ.
The upbeat result also follows a surprise decision by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in late October to hold the official cash rate steady, despite financial markets thinking a hike was a sure bet.
Rising Christmas bookings and returning tourists were cited as positives in the survey. Sentiment improved slightly, with 57.9% of comments being negative, compared to 59.9% in September.
New orders and sales were the strongest sub-indices, at 53.0 and 52.6 respectively, followed by supplier deliveries. Employment was the only sub-index below 50, at 49.9.
-Write to James Glynn at james.glynn@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 15, 2026 17:15 ET (22:15 GMT)
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