Consumer confidence in New Zealand rose 8 points to 99.3 in July amid unstable oil prices and an interest rate hike, still 8 points below its January peak but well above the April low, ANZ Research said Friday.
According to the ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence survey, inflation expectations were unchanged at 4.6% in the month, while house price expectations declined to 2.6% from 3%.
The net proportion of householding thinking it's a good time to buy a major household item, a subindex of the survey, increased 4 points to negative 7 but remained weak.
Consumer confidence, which was upbeat at the beginning, unsurprisingly eased toward the end of the month, mirroring the pattern in oil prices, which fell before rising sharply in the middle of the month.
"Developments in the Middle East will continue to buffet both business and consumer confidence as long as the situation remains volatile," analysts at the firm commented.