New Zealand Retail Sales rise in third quarter

The quarterly release of Retail Sales has been released as follows:

• New Zealand Q3 s/adj real retail sales +0.4 pct Q/Q.
• New Zealand Q3 s/adj actual retail sales +4.9 pct YoY.

New Zealand retail sales volumes rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent in the third quarter, data from Statistics New Zealand showed on Friday, putting sales 4.9 percent higher on the year.

NZD/USD remains stagnant at 0.6265 in thin holiday trade at the start of the Asian session. 

''As we have stated in recent days, we do think higher interest rates and the RBNZ’s hawkish stance are, on balance, a positive for the Kiwi, but newspapers are awash with recession talk, and that of course brings with it the risk that negative sentiment starts to feed on itself,'' analysts at ANZ Bank explained. 

''The big global uncertainty is; how does the USD treat the prospect of the Fed slowing down the pace of hikes, but potentially higher terminal rate? Does that feed bearish sentiment, or help USD carry? So there is still uncertainty.''

About New Zealand Retail Sales

The quarterly release of Retail Sales by the Statistics New Zealand directly reflects on the country’s consumer spending. Stronger sales could drive inflation higher, leading the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) to hike interest rates so as to maintain its inflation-containment mandate. Thus, the indicator impacts the New Zealand dollar significantly. A better-than-expected print tends to be NZD bullish. The data is published about a month and a half after the quarter ends.