Activity in the services sector has expanded for the second month in a row, helped by higher dairy prices and more visitors from Australia.
The BNZ Capital / Business New Zealand Performance of Services Index climbed to 51.3 in August, from 50.1 in July.
A reading above 50 indicates activity is expanding. The August figure is the second positive result after sixteen months of contraction.
BNZ Capital head of research Stephen Toplis says new orders and activity were the only indices to experience expansion in August.
Deliveries, inventories and employment all improved, but remained in contraction territory.
Mr Toplis says August's PMI index is up 3.4 points from last year, but still 8.1 points below what it was in August 2007.
