-
Factories struggled, NZD firmer
The latest ASB housing confidence survey finds kiwis are sitting on the fence when deciding if it's a good time to buy a house. The last time NZers were this confident house prices would increase was - just before the housing market slump! More components of the Q4 GDP result were released today. Manufacturing industry data shows the volume of finished goods stocks fell +1.4 in the December quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. Manufacturing sales volumes fell -3.4% after a -6.8% drop in September. The really big falls are coming from the meat & dairy sectors. Manufacturing purchases fell -$2.3 bln ... (full story)