Inflation in New Zealand was up 0.3 percent on year in the second quarter of 2015, Statistics New Zealand said on Thursday.
That was in line with expectations and up from the 0.1 percent increase in the three months prior.
The prices of tradable goods and services fell 2.0 percent on year, with lower prices for petrol (down 7.4 percent) and for international airfares (down 6.3 percent).
Non-tradable goods and services climbed 2.0 percent, the smallest annual increase since the December 2001 quarter. The main contributor was cigarettes and tobacco prices (up 14 percent), influenced by the increase in excise duty in January. Excluding cigarettes and tobacco, the CPI fell 0.1 percent on year in Q2.
Housing and household utility prices added 2.5 percent on year, with higher prices for newly built houses excluding land (up 5.3 percent), housing rentals (up 2.3 percent), and local authority rates (up 3.9 percent).
Prices for newly built houses excluding land rose 7.6 percent on year in Auckland, and rose 4.0 percent in Canterbury. Housing rentals rose 2.9 percent in Auckland, and 3.5 percent in Canterbury.
On a quarterly basis, consumer prices added 0.4 percent versus expectations for a gain of 0.5 percent following the 0.3 percent contraction in the first quarter.
"The main impact came from higher petrol prices, which were up 8.8 percent in the June quarter. Without petrol, the CPI was flat for the quarter," prices manager Chris Pike said.
The average price of a liter of 91 octane petrol in Q2 was NZ$1.95, compared with NZ$1.79 in the March quarter. By the end of the June quarter, petrol pump prices were 4.1 percent above the average price for that quarter.
Prices for the housing and household utilities group rose 0.7 percent for the latest quarter. Prices for newly built houses excluding land were up 1.5 percent nationally (2.8 percent in Auckland, and 0.7 percent in Canterbury). Housing rental prices rose 0.6 percent, with Auckland prices up 0.8 percent and Canterbury up 0.7 percent.
These price rises were partly offset by lower prices for domestic airfares (down 13 percent) following price rises in the previous two quarters. Domestic airfares were down 3.0 percent from a year earlier. Telecommunication services also fell for the June quarter (down 1.9 percent).
Also on Thursday, the latest survey from Business NZ showed that the manufacturing sector in New Zealand expanded at an accelerated pace in June, with a Performance of Manufacturing Index score of 55.2.
That was up from the upwardly revised 52.0 in May (originally 51.5), and it moved further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
The June reading marked the first increase in four months, spurred by gains in new orders and production.
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