Manufacturing contracts in December

Manufacturing activity contracted in December after expanding for six months.The BNZ - BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index fell to 48.7 in December from 54.7 in November. A reading above 50.0 indicates manufacturing is generally expanding."While production (51.5) managed to keep its head above water, the other key sub-index of new orders (49.9) failed to record expansion,” said BusinessNZ's executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard.She also noted the employment measure - at 49.9 - was just below the 50 mark,...