?New ?Zealand business ?confidence edged higher in ?October, with firms remaining ?relatively optimistic as ?all forward-looking activity ?indicators ?turned positive despite the volatilities in ?oil prices, an ANZ Bank survey showed on ?Thursday. Business confidence rose to a ?net 52.5% ?of respondents ?expecting the ?economy to improve over the ?year ahead, ?up from 51.9% in September, while 46.2% expected their own ?activity to grow, down slightly from 47.9%.