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NZ Feb retail sales rise but rate cut bets still on
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NZ Feb retail sales rise but rate cut bets still on
Reuters - Tuesday, April 14
* Retail sales up 0.2 pct on fuel sales
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* Core sales down 0.1 pct
* No change in expectations of more interest rate cuts
by Mantik Kusjanto
WELLINGTON, April 14 - New Zealand retail sales inched up in February but the uptick failed to change market expectations that the central bank will keep cutting interest rates to pull the struggling economy out of recession.
Seasonally adjusted retail sales values rose 0.2 percent on the previous month, the first increase in three months, official data showed on Tuesday, compared with a Reuters poll predicting a 0.3 percent fall.
Despite the small upturn, economists said core spending excluding car sales and other items such as fuel remained subdued in the face of rising unemployment and bets on more rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand remained on.
"We think they can cut a lot further, because it looks like the economy has not been picking up as quickly as they had been expecting," said ASB Bank chief economist Nick Tuffley.
Tuesday's data showed the value of February core retail sales dipped 0.1 percent, compared with economists' expectations of a steady reading, while vehicle sales slumped to 11-year lows.
The central bank has said it expects the economy to trough in the middle of this year, helped partly by the substantial reduction in borrowing costs and fiscal stimulus.
The New Zealand dollar <NZD=> barely moved after the data but later drifted lower to $0.5895/96 at 0210 GMT. The yield on the June bank bill contract <NBBM9> rose two ticks to 3.03 percent compared with the 3 percent official cash rate.
New Zealand's economy has been in recession since the start of last year as the global financial crisis exacerbated the effects of a rapidly cooling housing market, bringing about job cuts and stagnating incomes.
The central bank responded by cutting the key rate by a total of 525 basis points since last July to a record low 3 percent.
Helped by lower borrowing costs, New Zealand's housing market showed signs of bottoming out in March, with prices and sales rising for a second consecutive month.
But analysts said the broader economic outlook remained gloomy, with an influential survey last week pointing to a prolonged and deep recession.
The NZ Institute of Economic Research said in its quarterly survey that business confidence had worsened to a 35-year low in the first quarter, with firms planning to cut investment and shed staff. [ID:nWEL425392]
"It is also consistent with the contraction in the New Zealand economy in the first quarter and I think it will force the RBNZ to cut rates further," said RBC Capital Markets senior economist Su-Lin Ong.
Eight out of 12 analysts recently polled by Reuters expect the central bank to cut its benchmark by 50 basis points at its April 30 review.
The retail sales statistics followed some bleak reports from retailers.
Briscoe Group <BGR.NZ>, which operates homeware and sports goods chains, said last month its annual profit nearly halved due to poor economic conditions and lower margins, and said it expected the coming year to be tough as well.
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