The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) released its Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion on late Monday evening. New Zealand's business confidence dropped to -14% in the third quarter from +5% in the second quarter, reaching its lowest level in more than four years.

"The drought and the slowing growth in China and the potential impact on the New Zealand economy - that has made a lot of business uneasy about what's going to be happening in the New Zealand economy in the coming months but as yet they haven't seen the effects in their business," NZIER senior economist Christina Leung said.