NZ services activity picks up in January on new orders, sales

NZ services activity picks up in January on new orders, sales
Feb. 18 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand’s services sector picked up in January, though the gain was driven only by new orders and sales while other measures were in contraction. The BNZ-Business New Zealand Performance of Services Index rose 1.1 points to 52.6. New orders climbed to 57.6 from 55.4 in December and sales rose to 53.5 from 51.6. Of the three other diffusion indexes, employment slipped back into contraction at 49.9, stocks/inventories held at 49.9 and supplier deliveries remained in contraction at 48.1. The measure of services rev...