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New Zealand shoppers spending less with electronic cards in April

Xinhua, May 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Retail spending by New Zealanders with their credit and debit cards in April fell by 0.7 percent from March, the government statistics agency announced Monday.

The fall followed increases of 0.7 percent in March and 1 percent in February, according to Statistics New Zealand.

"After removing seasonal effects, spending fell in four of the six retail industries," business indicators manager Neil Kelly said in a statement.

The largest fall came from the durable industry, which includes furniture, hardware, appliances, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and toiletry retailing.

Core retail spending, which excludes the vehicle-related industries, fell 0.8 percent in April, following a 0.6-percent rise in March.

The total value of electronic card spending, including non- retail industries, fell by 1.1 percent to 5.9 billion NZ dollars ( 4.37 billion U.S. dollars), following a 1.2-percent rise in March.

Trends for the total, retail and core retail series had generally been rising since these series began in October 2002. Endi