Forex Today: PPI Output Prices -1.4% In Q3

Producer prices in New Zealand saw a 1.4 percent decline in output prices in the third quarter of 2009 compared to the previous three months, Statistics New Zealand said on Monday, versus forecasts for a 0.2 percent increase following the 0.7 percent fall in Q2.

Input prices for PPI were down 1.1 percent on quarter, compared to expectations for a repeat of the flat quarter three months earlier.

Both output and input prices were influenced by falling dairy prices. The dairy cattle farming index was down 24.3 percent, marking the largest fall since the series began in the June 1994 quarter. The dairy product manufacturing index was down 20.9 percent, which was the largest quarterly fallsince the September 2002 quarter.

In the year to the September 2009 quarter, the PPI inputs index fell 5.8 percent for the largest annual fall since the series began in the December 1977 quarter. The PPI outputs index fell 2.1 percent.

Also on Monday, New Zealand's Capital Goods Price Index fell 0.4 percent in the September 2009 quarter. The non-residential buildings index was down 1.4 percent to fall for the fourth consecutive quarter. The plant, machinery, and equipment index eased 0.6 percent - largely due to a stronger New Zealand dollar, analysts said. The residential buildings index fell 0.4 percent on lower labor and material costs, the data showed.

Offsetting influences this quarter came from rises in the transport equipment index (up 0.8 percent) and the other construction index (up 0.5 percent).

The CGPI rose 2.3 percent in the year to the September 2009 quarter, compared with rises of 3.8 percent in the year to the September 2008 quarter and 2.3 percent in the year to the September 2007 quarter.