New Zealand's business confidence dropped in March as the business outlook survey showed weakening activity indicators and a slight fall in inflation pressures, an ANZ Bank survey showed on Thursday. The survey's headline measure showed a net 22.9% of respondents expected the economy to improve over the year ahead, versus a 34.7% optimism level in the previous poll in February. A net 22.5% of respondents expected their own businesses to grow in the next 12 months, versus 29.5% last month. ANZ said in a note that the economy is broadly following the path laid out for it by the Reserve Bank. "The good news is ... (full story)