Malaysia's Dec industrial output grows

Malaysia's industrial production growth accelerated in December as manufacturing and electricity output increased.

Production
at factories, utilities and mines gained 3 per cent from a year earlier
after rising a revised 2.4 per cent in November, the statistics
department said today. That compares with the median estimate for a 1.7
per cent increase in a Bloomberg News survey of 17 economists.

Asian
economies from China to India have reported an improvement in
manufacturing numbers this year, suggesting the region is withstanding
the impact of Europe's sovereign-debt crisis. Bank Negara Malaysia kept
interest rates unchanged last month, saying the economy showed signs of
"continued expansion" and will keep growing, aided by public spending.

"The
prospects for the external sector will continue to be underpinned by
the situation in the developed economies," Irvin Seah, an economist at
DBS Group Holdings Ltd in Singapore, said before the report. "Although
economic conditions in the developed economies have improved slightly in
the past month, the situation remains fluid."

Manufacturing
output gained 4.5 per cent in December from a year earlier, easing from a
revised 5 per cent increase in the previous month, today's report
showed. Mining fell 0.8 per cent, while electricity production climbed
3.1 per cent.

Manufacturing sales rose 1.1 per cent in December
from a year earlier, easing from a revised 6 per cent gain in November,
the statistics department said in a separate report. -- Bloomberg