Capital goods annual fall at decade-low

The capital goods price index (CGPI) fell 0.6 per cent in the year to the June quarter, the largest annual fall since the year to the December 1999 quarter, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) says.

The CGPI measures the change in the price of physical capital goods purchased by producers of goods and services.

For the June quarter, the CGPI edged up 0.1 per cent from the March quarter.

Small rises for construction-related asset prices in the latest quarter were offset by small falls for plant, machinery, and transport equipment prices, SNZ said today.

The main upward pressure on the CGPI during the three months to June came from the residential buildings prices which rose 0.3 percent.

The other construction index - which measures changes in infrastructure prices for such things as road and pipeline construction - had the second largest upward impact in the quarter with a 0.1 per cent rise.

The largest downward influence on the CGPI was in plant, machinery, and equipment prices - covering items such as computer machinery, furniture, and machinery for mining, quarrying, and construction - which slipped 0.1 per cent in the quarter.

The category was affected by a strengthening of the New Zealand dollar.

- NZPA