New Zealand business confidence sank to a seven-month low in June, a survey by ANZ Bank showed on Wednesday, reinforcing recent signs the country's economy was losing some of its gloss after years of strong growth. The survey's headline measure showed a net 39 percent of respondents expected the economy to deteriorate over the year ahead in June, from 27.2 percent the previous month.
That was the most pessimistic level since the measure took a dive in November to an eight-year trough on jitters around the centre-left Labour-led government taking the helm and ending almost a decade of centre-right National Party rule. The New Zealand dollar fell to a seven-month low of $0.6817 on Wednesday from around $0.6843 before the survey was released.
Firms' own activity outlook remained positive but fell to 9.4 percent from 13.6 percent the previous month. "This is starting to look worrying though I suspect some will be seasonal," said Cameron Bagrie, an economist at Bagrie Economics, adding that business confidence tended to weaken in winter.