KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's exports rose for the third straight month in November, expanding 4.3% from a year earlier, on higher shipments of manufactured goods and palm oil products, government data showed on Monday.

The expansion beat a 3.9% rise forecast by six economists surveyed by Reuters and was quicker than the 0.2% growth recorded in October.

Imports in November shrank 9% from a year earlier, bigger than the 6% drop posted in the previous month, data from the International Trade and Industry Ministry showed. Analysts had expected a fall of 4.8%.

Malaysia's trade surplus in November narrowed to 16.8 billion ringgit ($4.14 billion) from 22.1 billion ringgit in October. Analysts had expected a surplus of 12.7 billion ringgit.