Fortnight in numbers
This time instead of being lazy I’ve actually been a bit busy, so here are some numbers from the last fortnight.
- Net annual arrivals fell to 8,730 in August
- Tourist arrivals rose 5.8%pa in August
- CA deficit came in at 8.2% of GDP in June
- Electronic sales rose 9.2%pa in August
- Core retail sales rose 5.0%pa in July
- House sales fell 9.8% (SA) between July and August
- TOT rose 0.6%
- Manufacturing output rose 3.2% (seasonally adjusted) over the June quarter.
- RBNZ didn’t change the OCR
- The exchange rate went between 0.686US and 0.746US busy times.
Nothing there to worry much about. Or at least nothing to put off any offshore investment. With US interest rates down and perhaps more to come, the interest rate differential has again widened in New Zealand’s favour. There remains a conststnt inflow of funds into New Zealand, and this means the NZD must pressure higher.
Expect a test of 0.7500 in the days ahead, with the NZD/USD eventually testing the 0.8000 level again, probably as we go into the end of the year, unfortunately as seasonal export demand comes on again.