Analysts at ANZ Bank have penciled in a 0.3% QoQ contraction, which is weaker than their previous forecast of 0.3% QoQ, and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand February MPS forecast of 0.7% QoQ.

´´A 1.7% QoQ fall in goods-producing industries (led by weaker manufacturing and construction) is expected to offset a modest 0.3% q/q lift in services activity. Given the ongoing noise in the data, we’re not convinced a weak read in Q4 can be considered much more than payback from the whopper 2.0% q/q lift in GDP in Q3,´ the analysts said.

The analysts said that the RBNZ will likely to look through some of the weakness in Q4 if the data print broadly as expected.´´