The FINANCIAL — Retail spending in New Zealand inched higher in the second quarter but the increase was sharply lower than in the prior quarters and was below expectations, according to Nasdaq.
The volume of real retail sales rose 0.1% in the second quarter compared with the first, Statistics New Zealand said on August 14. The median forecast in a Wall Street Journal poll was for a rise of 0.5%.
When price changes are included, second quarter sales were also 0.1% higher than in the first quarter. Economists had expected a rise of 0.8%.
“Although just over half the industries had sales volume increases this quarter, they were modest in size compared with growth in recent quarters,” business indicators manager Neil Kelly said. In the prior quarter, the volume of real retail sales rose a revised 2.3% while it rose 2.1% in the December quarter.
In the second quarter, the largest seasonally adjusted sales volume increase was in “non-store and commission-based retailing,” which increased 8.1%. This industry includes businesses that are mainly engaged in selling online without a shop-front or physical shop presence. The largest volume decrease was in fuel retailing, down 0.9%.
Discussion about this post