NZ business manufacturing PMI eases in October on, stays above the long-term average

Business manufacturing conditions in New Zealand eased during the month of October, mainly on drag from new orders, production, finished stocks and deliveries that all slowed but remained in expansion mode.

New Zealand’s seasonally adjusted PMI for October rose to 55.2, above the 50-point threshold benchmark point that separates expansion from, data released by BusinessNZ showed Friday. This was 2.3 points lower from September, and the third time in four months activity has been in the 55 point range. The sector remains solidly in expansion in almost all months since October 2012.

"The headline result for the first 10 months of 2016 shows expansion only varying by 2.8 points, with most months seesawing between the 55 and 57 point range. At this stage 2016 is shaping up as better than 2015 for the sector, although the next two months will determine the extent to which the sector can keep the momentum going to provide healthy levels of expansion," said Catherine Beard, Executive Director, BNZ.

In a separate report, the country’s manufacturing sales value rose 1.1 percent in September from a year ago. Total employees engaged in the manufacturing sector increased 0.2 percent and salaries and wages climbed by 7.5 percent.

Meanwhile, at 6:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Australian Dollar Strength Index stood neutral at 17.4884 (lower than the range of 75-100 for bullish trend), while the NZD/USD currency pair rose 0.17 percent to 0.7224 at6:45GMT.