♦ The Leading Index, which provides an early signal of the direction that the economy is heading, rebounded to increase by 3.7% mom in March, the first increase in four months and from -0.5% in February. This was underpinned by a pick-up in theBursa Malaysia Industrial index (+0.3%), trade with eight major trading partners (+0.4%), industrial material price index (+0.7%), the ratio of price to unit labour cost in the manufacturing sector (+0.5%), the number of housing permits approved (+0.9%) and the number of new companies registered (+0.8%) as well as an improvement in CPI for services (inverted). These were, however, offset partially by a stagnant money supply during the month. The broad-based improvement in economic indicators pushed the leading index’s sixmonth smoothed growth rate to 11.2% in March, a rebound from +5.2% in February but off a peak of +12.9% in November (see Chart 1). As a whole, the readings suggest that the economy will likely remain resilient even though growth will likely moderate in 2H 2010.
Economic Highlights - Leading Index Rebounded In March, Pointing To A Resilient Economic Growth In 2H 2010 ...
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