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Core retail sales, which exclude petrol and automotive sales, rose 0.3% in seasonally adjusted terms in February from January, while total retail sales rose 0.8%, Statistics NZ said. (Update 1 includes ASB comment on the soft figures)

Core spending growth was less than economists had forecast and suggests consumers are being more cautious during this recovery as they see a softening housing market and are trying to reduce debt.

Here is the full Statistics NZ release below:
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Total retail spending with electronic cards fell 0.3% in seasonally adjusted terms in February from January, Statistics NZ data shows. The trend of card spending shows retail sales have been easing since April last year and are now flat, having initially risen early in 2009 in line with a bounce in the housing market. (Update 1 includes ASB Economist comments about subdued spending).

This suggests consumers have put their wallets away now the housing market has stopped its rebound. This data, along with other data showing a slowing of momentum in the consumer economy, may give the Reserve Bank more room to delay its first interest rate hike from the middle of 2010 until later in the year.

The Reserve Bank is expected to announce its latest view on the Official Cash Rate on Thursday at 9am, although it is expected to leave it on hold for now at a record low 2.5%. The key point to watch will be whether it keeps its most recent outlook for a rise “in the middle of 2010″ or whether it extends that forecast out into the “second half of 2010″ or the “latter part of 2010.”

Here is the full release below from Statistics NZ:

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Core seasonally adjusted retail spending rose 0.6% in the December quarter 2009, Stats NZ said today. This was in line with a similar rise in the previous quarter and was driven by a rise in spending in bars and restaurants, while spending in supermarkets, hardware and furniture stores fell. (Update 1 includes ASB economist saying consumers are being cautious and the RBNZ can afford to leave the OCR at 2.5% until June)

Automotive fuel sales rose 5.7%, while the total value of total sales rose 1.0%. This is the third consecutive quarter of an increase in total sales values after one year of decline, business statistics manager Kathy Connolly said.

To view the press release see here:

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The value of retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8% in November from October as consumers spent more on fuel and items such as used goods, garden supplies and jewellery, figures released by Statistics New Zealand show. The rise in November followed two flat months for retail sales, Stats NZ said.

Core retail sales, which exclude the vehicle-related industries also rose 0.8% in November. Unadjusted figures show core sales were up 3.6% from November 2008, from 2.1% annual growth in October.

Here is the release from Stats NZ:

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Overall spending with electronic cards rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in December from the previous month, following two flat months in October and November, figures released by Statistics New Zealand show.

The value of retail transactions using electronic cards rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in December from November. The rise in the value of retail transactions since July 2009 has been led by increases in spending on fuel, Stats NZ said. Not including fuel and vehicle related industries, core retail spending with cards rose 0.4% during December, up from 0.3% in November.

Actual figures show the value of core retail transactions using electronic cards was NZ$4.2 billion in December 2009, up 3.6% from December 2008. Overall spending with cards rose 4.9% from the year before, to NZ$5.9 billion.

The number of overall transactions with cards during December rose 6.6% from December 2008 to 106 million. Although this was up from 4.1% annual growth in December 2008, it was still down from an average growth of 8.3% between December 2005 and 2007.

The average transaction value in December for overall card spending was $55.82, the lowest for a December month since the series began in 2004. It was up from NZ$52.67 in November.

Here is the release from Stats NZ:

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Retail sales remained flat in October from September as a NZ$23 million rise in core retail sales was offset by a NZ$21 million fall in vehicle-related sales, figures released by Statistics New Zealand show.

Seasonally adjusted figures show overall sales rose by less than 0.1% over the month. Core retail sales rose 0.5%, led by a 10%, or NZ$32 million jump in cafe and restaurant retailing.

Actual figures show overall retail sales were down 0.2% in October from a year ago, which was better than the 0.5% annual fall in September. Core retail sales were up 2.1% from October 2008, down from a 3.3% rise in September.

Here is the release from Stats NZ:

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