Rugby World Cup victory fails to lift consumers

Photo / Steven McNicholl

The feel-good factor from the Rugby World Cup has proven shortlived.

The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index has fallen for the third month in a row, to its lowest level since May.

At 109 it's still above the neutral 100 level, indicating optimists still outnumber pessimists, but it's below the historical average of 118, said ANZ's head of market economics, Khoon Goh.

"This month's survey was taken after the [World Cup] final, so either the celebrations were short-lived and the hangover period has begun, or the ongoing uncertainty in the global economy is starting to put a dampener on things. We suspect it's more the latter."

The steepest fall was in perceptions of people's present financial position, from a 9 per cent negative last month to 18 per cent.

"The level has been in negative territory for over three years now, indicating households don't feel they're getting ahead despite the economy officially being out of recession since mid-2009," Goh said.

Auckland is no longer the most optimistic region, with overall confidence falling from 119 to 112, slightly below Wellington.

"This is somewhat surprising, considering Auckland benefited most from hosting the business end of the World Cup and experienced strong employment growth in the September quarter," Goh said.

There was nothing to be too alarmed at. "But the global situation and lack of strong local economic momentum is starting to test New Zealand's relative resilience to date."