New Zealand's service sector continued to march onwards and upwards last month, showing healthy levels of expansion, the BNZ-BusinessNZ Performance in Manufacturing Index shows.
The index for March was 57.6, 1.6 points higher than in February and close to the level of activity experienced in January.
A PSI reading above 50 indicates the service sector is generally expanding, with the higher the number the stronger the expansion.
Otago-Southland Employers Association chief executive John Scandrett said the 58.5 reading in the region reinforced the overall positive tracking pattern seen in recent months.
Upbeat comments in the regional March PSI survey had come from tourism, accommodation, cultural and recreational sectors.
Mid-range feedback was based around wholesale activities where there appeared to be both winners and losers.
''Sitting at the negative end of the market, we see that some retail and property services operators did not capture anticipated gains through the month.''
Across the board, the sub-indices delivered overall expansion indicators with the activity levels being in solid 60-point plus territory, Mr Scandrett said.
BNZ economist Doug Steel said the service sector was expanding at a brisk pace.
''This has been the case for a good two years now with even a hint of acceleration appearing of late.''
The upbeat service sector reflected the general economic expansion as was the message from last week's Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion for the three months ended March.
In the QSBO, service sector confidence was right on the average across an upbeat business community, where a net 23% of firms expected improvement in the general business situation over the coming six months, he said.
''Confidence is one thing but seeing a lift in activity is another. The latter was a striking feature of both the PSI and the QSBO.''
In March, the PSI sales activity indicated its third consecutive month above 60, representing acceleration in sales in the first quarter of the year.
Service sector firms' confidence and sales expectations had been elevated for some time and remained so.
But the first quarter of 2015 appeared to have been the first in quite a few years those expectations had been fulfilled, Mr Steel said.
Buoyant activity was driving demand for labour in the service sector.
The PSI employment index rose to 54.8 in March, taking the three month average to 54.2 - the second highest it had been since the survey started eight years ago.
