Durable goods, fuel boost card transactions

Monday 11th April 2011

Sales of durable goods such as furniture and appliances helped boost electronic card transactions during March in the retail sector, but rising petrol prices also played a key role.

Figures from Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) today show a seasonally adjusted 0.5% rise in total electronic card transactions last month, while the retail industries were up 1.3%, and core retail - which excludes vehicle-related industries - rose 0.9%.

The actual value of transactions in core retail was 5.2% ahead of a year earlier.

The rise in core retail was driven by a seasonally adjusted 2.5% rise in sales of durables, which had fallen 2.4% in February, SNZ said.

Fuel retailing, which affected the overall retail figures but not core retail, was up 2.1%, having increased in each of the past eight months.

Transaction values in the two industries that fall outside retail both fell in March, resulting in the increase of just 0.5% in the total value of card transactions. Services were down 1.3%, and non-retail transactions excluding services fell 1%.

NZPA

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