KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's headline inflation fell to 1.8 per cent in November from 1.9 per cent in October, according to Bank Negara Malaysia.
The central bank said this was largely due to a continued downtrend in mobile communication services inflation, which declined to -11.4 per cent during the month.
However, the decline was partially offset by higher inflation in categories such as food away from home, which increased to 4.8 per cent, and streaming services, which rose to 8.9 per cent.
Core inflation remained unchanged at 1.8 per cent in November compared to October 2024, said Bank Negara in its monthly highlights of key economic data today.
The central bank said the manufacturing industrial production index grew 3.3 per cent in October.
"The export-oriented clusters expanded further, lifted by higher production of both electrical and electronics (E&E) and primary-related products.
"Growth in the domestic-oriented clusters rose further, reflecting higher production of construction-related materials as well as food, beverage and tobacco products," it added.
Meanwhile, Bank Negara said credit to the private non-financial sector grew by 5.2 per cent in November, driven mainly by higher growth in corporate bonds.
Business loan growth in November remained steady at 5.4 per cent, supported by investment-related loans, particularly among SMEs, while loans for working capital purposes moderated to 3.5 per cent.
For households, loan growth continued to be sustained at 6.0 per cent in November amid broadly steady growth across loan purposes.
On domestic financial markets, Bank Negara said global investor sentiment turned cautious, primarily influenced by uncertainties surrounding potential policies from the upcoming US administration and market expectations regarding the pace of future interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve.
"Against this backdrop, the US dollar strengthened, exerting depreciation pressure on regional currencies (regional average: -3.4 per cent), including the ringgit (-1.0 per cent).
"The FBM KLCI also registered a marginal decline of 0.5 per cent driven by foreign equity outflows.
"Meanwhile, the 10-year MGS yield declined by 11 basis points," it noted.
The banking system, Bank Negara said, continued to record healthy liquidity buffers with an aggregate liquidity coverage ratio of 147.9 per cent in November.
The aggregate loan-to-fund ratio remained broadly stable at 83.6 per cent in the same month.
"Overall gross and net impaired loans ratios remained stable at 1.5 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively. Loan loss coverage ratio including regulatory reserves continued to be prudent at 128.1 per cent of impaired loans," it added.