NZ retail sales beats expectations in Q1

FXStreet (Bali) - New Zealand retail sales for Q1 rose to +2.7% vs +1.6% expected, while core retail sales was up 2.9% vs 1.5% expected. Both indicators were revised higher for the last quarter, to 1.9%. A very upbeat release for NZD bulls all around.

Key facts

For the March 2015 quarter, compared with the December 2014 quarter (seasonally adjusted):

The total volume of retail sales rose a record 2.7 percent.

All 15 industries had higher sales volumes.

Electrical and electronic goods retailing recorded the largest volume increase, up 8.9 percent.

The total value of retail sales rose 1.7 percent.