Malaysian business sentiment continues to remain muted for Q1 2021 although slight improvements were seen for the third consecutive quarter since Q2 2020.
Five of six indicators have climbed upwards on a quarter-on-quarter basis for Q1 2021, including volume of sales, selling price, new orders, inventory levels, employment levels. Net profit increased remained contractionary at -20.63 percentage points in Q1 2021. The wholesale industry has emerged as one of the most upbeat sectors with three of six indicators in the positive zone, including volume of sales, selling price, new orders.
The construction sector is also relatively downbeat with only one indicator in expansionary zone, given that only net profit rebounded from -50.0 percentage points in Q4 2020 to +16.67 percentage points in Q1 2021.