The manufacturing sector in Malaysia continued to contract in February, albeit at a slightly slower rate, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Wednesday with a PMI score of 48.4.
That's up from 46.5 in January, although it remains beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
The relative improvement in the data from the January survey suggests that official numbers for GDP and manufacturing production will continue to show year-on-year expansions, following slowdowns in the rates of growth shown by recent official data releases.
Signs of improvement in sector performance were evident with regards to both output and new orders in February, which both moderated to a much lesser extent than in January.
