KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The seasonally adjusted S&P Global Malaysia Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was unchanged at 48.8 in April, signaling that business conditions remained challenging for firms.

S&P Global Market Intelligence said in a statement on Tuesday that the index has been at its joint highest level since September last year, suggesting a tentative recovery in operating conditions since the turn of the year.

According to the research house, the latest PMI reading suggested that Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) growth is running at a similar level to that seen in the final quarter of 2022, as well as modest year-on-year improvements in official industrial production data.

While the latest PMI data suggest that demand conditions remained subdued in the Malaysian manufacturing sector in April, S&P Global Market Intelligence Economics Director Andrew Harker said the data are still consistent with reasonable growth in official numbers.

"Moreover, there were some positive signs emanating from the latest survey. Export demand ticked up, hopefully providing an early signal that the overall demand environment will start to strengthen soon. Firms also had more success in securing new staff members during the month," he said.

With price and supply pressures also having shown improvement, he said the sector is hopefully set for a strengthening of growth momentum as the quarter progresses.