Malaysia Nov factory output up 6.2% y-o-y, meets forecast

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's industrial production in November rose 6.2 per cent from a year earlier, helped by strength in the manufacturing, electricity and mining sectors, government data showed on Wednesday.

The output gain was in line with the median forecast by economists in a Reuters poll, and up from the 4.2 per cent rise in October.

Electricity output recorded the strongest growth among all sectors at 9.7 per cent year-on-year, data from the Statistics Department showed.

The manufacturing sector also grew a robust 6.5 per cent in November, up from 4.2 per cent the previous month.

Malaysia's November exports had increased sharply by 7.8 per cent from a year earlier, thanks to rising shipments of both manufactured and agricultural goods.

However, a private manufacturing purchasing managers' index showed Malaysian factory activity contracting again in December, on lower production due to an unstable economy and declining new work inflows.

REUTERS