KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's leading index (LI) saw a 0.2 per cent decline to 109.8 points in November 2023 compared to 110.0 points in the same month last year signalling a downtrend in the economy.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) said the decline was owing to a 25.8 per cent fall in the number of housing units approved and 18.3 per cent drop in real imports of semiconductors.
The monthly performance of the LI rebounded by 0.5 per cent as compared with negative 0.1 per cent in the previous month in October, driven by a significant increase in real imports of semi conductors (1.0 per cent).
The LI is a tool used to forecast economic trends in the next four to six months.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that looking at the smoothed long-term trend in November 2023, the LI remained below the 100.0 point trend.
"Accordingly, Malaysia's economy is foreseen to maintain its moderate growth supported by the resilient performance of domestic-oriented industries despite continuing to face the uncertainty of the international market," he said in a statement today.
The Bursa Malaysia Industrial Index grew 17.1 per cent and has remained positive since May 2023.
He added that the monthly performance of the LI rebounded by 0.5 per cent as compared to negative 0.1 per cent in October 2023, driven by a significant increase in real imports of semiconductors (1.0 per cent).
As for the current economic position, the chief statistician said the coincident index (CI) recorded 123.7 points, an increase of 2.6 per cent as compared with 120.3 points in the same month of the preceding year.
This performance was contributed by all components, mainly the real contributions value, Employees Provident Fund (13.7 per cent).
In contrast to the annual performance, the monthly CI shrank by a negative 0.3 per cent, influenced by lacklustre performances in all components except for real salaries & wages in manufacturing (0.1 per cent).
Mohd Uzir said the diffusion indexes for LI and CI showed a downward trend in November 2023, where both indices posted below 50.0 per cent.
The diffusion index for LI stood at 42.9 per cent, while the diffusion index for CI stood at 33.3 per cent.