Services sector flat

After growing for three months, the services sector flattened last month, a survey shows. The BNZ Capital - Business NZ performance of service index (PSI) was 49.9 last month, down 3.3 points from September.

While 1.2 points higher than a year ago, the figure was the first since June below the no-change mark of 50. Business NZ chief executive Phil O'Reilly said the key indicators of activity/sales and new orders/business fell back sharply last month, after significant improvements in September.

Activity/sales fell 9.6 points to 48.4, while new orders/business dropped 6 points to 52.6. Overall, the largely unchanged reading for October meant the sector had at least not returned to the significant contractionary periods experienced last year and most of this year, O'Reilly said.