New Zealand Manufacturing Index Improves To 50.8 In January- BusinessNZ

(RTTNews) - The manufacturing sector in New Zealand moved back into expansion territory in January, the latest survey from BusinessNZ revealed on Friday with a Performance of Manufacturing Index score of 50.8.

That's up from the upwardly revised 47.8 reading in December (originally 47.2) and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

Among the individual components of the survey, employment (51.0), production (52.1), deliveries (51.6) and finished stocks (52.6) all expanded, while new orders (48.8) remained in contraction.

"New Zealand's manufacturing base appears to have reclaimed a sense of stability, and by doing so it meant New Zealand's PMI wasn't all that different to what the global PMI did in the month," BNZ Senior Economist Craig Ebert said.