Growth in New Zealand's service sector expands at slower rate: survey

[WELLINGTON] Growth in New Zealand's services sector expanded at a slower rate in March compared with the prior month, a survey showed on Tuesday.

The Bank of New Zealand-Business NZ's seasonally adjusted performance of services index (PSI) was 54.8 in March, 1.9 points lower than February and the lowest level of expansion since November 2014.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion in activity.

BNZ Senior Economist Craig Ebert said while momentum in the PSI has slowed over the last few months "it's far from being slow as March is still running above the historical average of 53.9."

Last week, the Bank of New Zealand-Business NZ's seasonally adjusted Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) was 54.7 versus 55.9 in February.

REUTERS