Malaysia exports fell 3.2% in October

Palm oil and gasoline exports particularly sluggish.

BBVA reports that Malaysia's exports in October declined by -3.2% y/y (consensus: -1.7% y/y) after a surprise 2.6% y/y increase in September, due to a decline in exports of palm oil and sluggish exports of gasoline (-26.0% y/y and 0.9% y/y respectively).

"By region, the biggest year-on-year declines were on exports to China and Japan (-9.4% and -6.7% respectively). While weak external demand continues to weigh on growth, as elsewhere in the ASEAN region, strong domestic demand has been an offset, supporting the central bank's decision to refrain from cutting rates for the whole of 2012," BBVA said.

"We expect growth in 2013 to reach 5.0%, compared to 4.5% in 2012," it added.