New Zealand ANZ Commodity Price Index October: -0.3% m/m (prior -1.1%)

ANZ Commodity Price Index tracks prices received for New Zealand’s main export categories.

The overall index has drifted lower since May, coinciding with the peak in dairy prices that month. However, compared to a year ago the index is still up 4.4%.

The ANZ World Commodity Price Index fell 0.3% m/m in October:

• Dairy prices fell 2.5% m/m. Due to dairy’s high weighting, this was enough to offset rising prices in meat and wool (+3.0%), forestry (+1.1%), and aluminium (+5.1%).

In NZD terms the Commodity Price Index rose 1.5% m/m due to the NZD weakening yet again.

• A weaker NZD lifts commodity prices in local currency terms, and this has helped our NZD-denominated index rise 12.0% y/y, much stronger than its World Price counterpart.

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Earlier:

• New Zealand Q3 unemployment rate rises to 5.3% (expected 5.3%, prior 5.2%)

The
New Zealand dollar had been soft heading into this jobs data, and showed a
further dip in the aftermath that took the Australian dollar to a 12
year high against its New Zealand counterpart.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.