MNI 5 Things: New Zealand Survey Shows Infla Pressures Subdued

     SYDNEY (MNI) -  - Below are the five observations we made from the ANZ

bank's New Zealand business outlook survey for February published Wednesday:

     --Business confidence recovered in February but remained negative for the

fourth straight survey. 

     --Both inflation expectations and pricing intentions eased during the month

which validates the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's hold-for-longer monetary

policy outlook. The survey showed businesses continue to put greater weight on

past inflation when setting prices and this trend needs to watched closely in

coming months.

     --The retail sector continued to rebound, with the highest business

confidence at -3.7 from -26.6 in December. Activity outlook in retail was also

above average.

     --Despite the rise in the New dollar in recent weeks, export intentions

rose.

     --Capacity utilization fell with capacity in construction sector down

significantly to 21.5 from 55.6. Residential construction intentions remained

elevated which is in line with the RBNZ's expectation for investment to remain

flat before increasing in 2019.

--MNI Sydney Bureau; tel: +61 2-9716-5467; email: sophia.rodrigues@marketnews.com

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