Malaysia June factory output grows 5.3% y-o-y, above forecast

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's June industrial production grew faster than expected, rising 5.3 per cent from a year earlier, due to strength in the mining, manufacturing, and electricity sectors, government data showed on Thursday.

June's factory output was above the 2.7 per cent growth in May, and beat economists' expectations of a 2.8 per cent rise.

Growth in the mining sector jumped 6.3 per cent in June after contracting the previous month, data from the Statistics Department showed. Electricity output also grew but at a slower pace than in May.

Malaysia's exports in June unexpectedly increased from a year earlier, rising 3.8 per cent, driven by higher demand for manufactured goods from the United States. A poll had forecast a decline, as there was in May.

A private manufacturing purchasing managers' index showed Malaysian factory activity in July contracted at a slower pace than in June, hitting its highest reading since March.

REUTERS