KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's trade performance is expected to remain muted in the near-term as global demand continues to weaken under the rising impact of higher interest rates.
Malaysia's Industrial Production Index (IPI) growth turned negative in Aug at 0.3 per cent year-on-year (YoY), nevertheless, Hong Leong Investment Bank research said this is better than consensus expectations of negative 2.0 per cent YoY.
On a monthly seasonally adjusted basis, IPI grew at a steady pace of 1.7 per cent, supported by growth in manufacturing production at 4.0 per cent.
Meanwhile, production across mining (-6.4 per cent) and electricity (-0.7 per cent) declined.
The manufacturing index declined further to -0.6 per cent YoY following a steeper contraction in export-oriented production (-2.5 per cent YoY) and slower domestic-oriented production (+3.8 per cent YoY).
"On the global front, global manufacturing PMI inched higher to 49.1 in September, signalling a slight easing in its rate of contraction.
"While improved supply helped producers fulfill order backlogs, a weaker intake of new orders led to a continued decline in production," it said in a note today.
