Malaysia September exports rose 54.5% YoY, above market consensus of 44.6%, the fastest export growth since April 2021; September imports climbed 52.7% YoY, exceeding consensus of 43.2%.

On the evening of the 18th (local time), incumbent President and Workers' Party candidate Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro and the Liberal Party candidate, met in their first head-to-head televised debate of the campaign. First-round voting on the 4th of this month returned Flavio with about 47% of valid votes, roughly two percentage points ahead of Lula. The pair advance to a runoff on the 25th.

RBA's Kent said there are grounds to view current monetary policy as somewhat restrictive, but the key question is whether that restrictiveness is sufficiently strong.