Electronic card spending up in September

After adjusting for seasonal effects, the total value of electronic card transactions increased 0.4 per cent in September 2009 compared with August 2009, Statistics NZ has said.

The industries contributing the most to this increase were automotive fuel retailing, consumables (includes food, liquor, and chemist retailing), and services (includes personal and household services, including hire and repair).

The value of transactions in the retail industries rose 0.7 per cent in September 2009, with automotive fuel retailing the biggest contributor. Core retailing (which excludes the motor vehicle related industries) saw a smaller increase of 0.4 per cent, with contributions from the consumables and services industries.

Trends for the value of transactions in the total, retail, and core retail series have all been increasing since January 2009.

The trend in total transactions has been rising at an average monthly rate of 0.4 per cent since then, while core retail has risen at an average of 0.3 per cent.

For the retail series, latest figures indicate the trend may have picked up in the last two months.