The sector for consumer discretionary products, which declined 4.5 percent last week, rose just 0.3 percent yesterday.

But several sectors that are regarded as highly cyclical also rose sharply.

"The Governor is confident that the private sector will rise to the occasion as it has in the past."

This sector rose 2.5 percent, to $31.3 billion, after a strong 5.5 percent increase in February.

A year later, though, the sector rose sharply in value, and it performed well on an annualized basis until late 1997.

The sector rises from 40 to 54m.

At first, following rising oil prices, the real sector of the economy will rise, and only later the credit market will improve.

It is not simply that governments have shrunk and the private sector has risen.

And the agricultural sector rose 1.8 percent, compared with a drop of 1.5 percent a year earlier.

Some sectors, notably finance, rose on the anticipation of lower rates.