New Zealand business confidence rises in Oct as rate cuts fuel optimism, ANZ survey shows
SYDNEY, Oct 31 (Reuters) -New Zealand's business confidence rose in October with forward-looking activity indicators climbing as rate cuts injected fresh optimism into businesses, an ANZ Bank survey showed on Thursday.
The survey's headline measure showed a net 65.7% of respondents expected the economy to improve over the year ahead, versus a 60.9% optimism level in the previous poll in September.
A net 45.9% of respondents expected their own businesses to grow in the next 12 months, versus 45.3% last month.
"Steady falls in interest rates are injecting new optimism ... and it's not just unsubstantiated hope - a smaller net proportion of firms are now reporting that activity is lower than a year earlier," ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner said.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut its benchmark rate in August, the first reduction since March 2020, and followed it up by slashing rates again by an outsized 50 basis points to 4.75% this month.
Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney;
Editing by Shri Navaratnam
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