Malaysia's October CPI falls 1.5% y/y, faster than forecast

Malaysia's consumer prices in October fell for the eighth straight month, declining 1.5% from a year earlier, government data showed on Wednesday.

The drop in October's consumer price index was slightly faster than the 1.4% decline forecast by economists in a Reuters poll. In September, the index had fallen 1.4%.

October's decline was largely driven by lower retail fuel prices, lean costs for housing, utilities and clothing, with the transport sector index falling 10.2% on-year, the Statistics Department said in a statement.