KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 ― Malaysia's industrial production in August rose 6.5 per cent from a year earlier, beating expectations, data from the Statistics Department showed today.

A Reuters poll of 12 economists had forecast factory output would expand at 5.0 per cent in August, supported by the manufacturing sector, at a time when exports have slowed considerably to 1.7 per cent in August.

However, data showed that factory production was boosted by growth in all three indices ― manufacturing, electricity and mining. Although crude oil production fell by 0.3 per cent, output in the mining sector grew due to an increase of 8.2 per cent in the production of NATURAL GAS.

The Statistics Department also revised the output in July to growth of 0.6 per cent year-on-year from an earlier 0.5 per cent rise. ― Reuters