KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's leading index was up 4.3 pct in April, signaling that the country's economy is poised for continued growth in the near term, official data showed Tuesday.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the leading index, which provides an early indication of significant turning points in the business cycle and the direction of the economy in the near term, achieving 113.1 points in April as against 108.4 points in the previous year.
It said the fifth consecutive month of increases suggested that the economy remained in a growing momentum.
Improvements were observed in all components except for real imports of semiconductors, which fell 1.5 percent.
After a marginal decline of 0.5 percent in March, the monthly change of the leading index bounced back by 0.8 percent in April.
Looking at the smoothed long-term trend in April, the leading index remained above 100 points, reflecting continued economic growth in the coming months supported by robust domestic demand and a sustainable expansion of the manufacturing and services sectors.
Meanwhile, the coincident index, which measures the overall current economic performance, rose by 3 percent in April, reaching 125.4 points as compared to 121.7 points in the same month of the previous year.
Referring to the monthly performance, the coincident index also increased by 0.3 percent. ■
