New Zealand’s Business NZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) improved to 49.3 in February from the previous reading of 47.5, according to Business NZ on Friday. 

Additional takeaways

“The key sub-index of Production (49.1) was at its highest level since January 2023, while Deliveries (51.4) was at its highest point since March 2023. However, New Orders (47.8) have now remained in contraction for nine consecutive months and likely need to get much closer to the 50-point mark to edge the sector back into expansion”.

Market reaction

At the press time, the NZD/USD pair was down 0.10% on the day to trade at 0.6124.