The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement on Friday that the leading index, a predictive tool used to anticipate economic upturns and downturns in an average of four to six months ahead, showed better movement for three consecutive months to negative 0.3 percent by recording 109.3 points in September.
According to the DOSM, the Bursa Malaysia industrial index (20.8 percent) and number of housing units approved (17.6 percent) contributed positively to the leading index.
Meanwhile, declines were observed in imported goods, particularly in the real imports of other basic precious and non-ferrous metals (-16.2 percent) and real imports of semiconductors (-14.5 percent).
Referring to the monthly performance, the leading index recorded negative 0.4 percent in the reference month as against 0.7 percent in the preceding month, owing to unfavorable performance in the real imports of other basic precious and other non-ferrous metals (-1 percent) and number of new companies registered (-0.8 percent).
Meanwhile, the coincident index, which reflects the current economic condition, rose 2.1 percent to 123.8 points in September as compared to 121.2 points in the same month of the previous year.
The upturn was led by the real contributions, Employee Provident Fund (EPF) (8.6 percent), followed by the volume index of retail trade (3.6 percent).
Simultaneously, the monthly change in the coincident index also climbed 0.2 percent with total employment in manufacturing being the main contributor to the increase (0.3 percent).
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