Perky services sector in Janary soothes fears over cooling economy

Sun, 17 Feb 2019

By Paul McBeth Feb. 18 (BusinessDesk) - Activity in New Zealand's services sector picked up in January, with strong sales and new orders helping to allay fears that the economy may be poised for a downturn this year. The BNZ-BusinessNZ performance of services index rose 3.1 points to a seasonally adjusted 56.3 in January, compared to December, tracking ahead of its long-term average, and above the 55 reading this time last year. A reading of 50 separates expansion from contraction. The activity/sales sub-index jumped 9.2 points to 61...

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