New Zealand Business Confidence Falls Slightly In October

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Business confidence dipped slightly in October after reaching a ten-year high in September, the latest survey from the National Bank showed Wednesday.

A net 48.2% firms expect general business conditions to improve in the next 12 months, lower than a net 49% in September. Confidence levels improved in the construction sector, but dropped across the manufacturing, services and retail sectors.

Firms own activity expectations decreased slightly, with a net 30.5% anticipating better times in the next one year compared to a net 32.2% last month. Employment intentions turned negative, with a net 0.3% firms expecting a fall in employment over the next one year, in contrast to a 1.8% expecting a rise in September.

However, profit expectations continued to rise, to show the best reading in five years. A net 11.9% expect profits to rise over the next 12 months, up from a net 7.6% last month. Moreover, export intentions rose slightly, with the recovering global demand dominating the higher New Zealand dollar. Further, pricing intentions and interest rate expectations increased.

(Market News Provided by RTTNews)