KUALA LUMPUR: The seasonally adjusted S&P Global Malaysia Manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose from 49.5 in October to 50.1 in November, signalling the first fractional improvement in the health of the sector since May 2024.
S&P Global said the final quarter of the year saw solid economic growth, consistent with a further expansion in official manufacturing production on an annual basis.
“Malaysia’s manufacturing sector saw growth in business optimism in November, supported by renewed expansion in new business as new order inflows rose for the third time in four months, the fastest pace since April 2022.
“Driving the improvement in business conditions was a renewed uptick in new orders. The respective seasonally adjusted index was above the 50.0 no-change mark for only the fourth time in 2025 so far, and reached the highest level in just over three-and-a-half years,” it said in a research note today.
It said stronger client confidence and new product launches were cited as key factors behind the increase.
Meanwhile, the global rating company also said confidence in the outlook encouraged manufacturers to raise employment levels at the strongest rate since September 2022, ending a four-month sequence of falling staffing levels.
“In addition, firms also looked to increase purchasing activity on the back of the improved outlook and demand conditions, taking the current sequence of accumulation to five months. This coincided with a renewed improvement in vendor performance in November, the first since May,” said S&P Global.
On Asean, the S&P Global Asean Manufacturing PMI rose from 52.7 in October to 53.0 in November, indicating the third-strongest improvement in sector health in the series’ history.
According to S&P Global, the headline index has only been surpassed in October 2021 and September 2022, driven by further acceleration in the growth of new orders and output in November.
“The rates of increase were generally comparable and sharp overall, with the most recent upticks among the fastest in series history. In contrast to the trend for total new orders, goods producers noted a fresh decline in international orders,” it added.
