Malaysia's exports in November rose unexpectedly, dodging the impact from tumbling world oil prices and providing a brief respite for the sliding ringgit.

The South-East Asian exporter is grappling with sliding prices for energy and commodities as growth slows in Europe and China. There are concerns that the government will miss its budget deficit target of three percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) this year, which will add pressure on its sovereign ratings.

Annual exports in November surprisingly rose 2.1 percent, confounding market expectations for a fall, supported by electrical and electronic products despite a drop in commodity-related exports, government data showed today. A Reuters poll had forecast that exports would drop 0.4 percent.

Imports were flat from a year earlier, however, much lower than an expected 8.2 percent rise.

"You'll see some run-up in domestic demand before the goods and services tax (GST), so consumption and imports could pick up, but over the rest of the year it could moderate below trend," said Credit Suisse economist Michael Wan.

"The trade balance would moderate because of this oil price decline," said Wan, adding that the high figure was likely a "one-off" incident.

Malaysia's Achilles' heel?

The country's trade surplus for the month expanded to RM11.13 billion (US$3.12 billion), the highest in value terms since November 2011. In October, the trade surplus was at RM1.2 billion and the forecast for November was RM4.9 billion.

ANZ said in a research report that the trade balance could potentially be Malaysia's "Achilles' heel" in 2015, despite an encouraging November print with unexpected strength in exports and weakness in imports.

The statistics department said exports were boosted by electrical and electronic goods making up 36 percent of the total exports, with most of the products exported to the United States, the Netherlands, China and Singapore.

Exports to China declined 14.6 percent from a year earlier due to lower demand for metal, petroleum products and crude natural rubber from the country.

The ringgit, Asia's weakest currency in 2014, won brief reprieve after the export and trade balance data. It pulled up to 3.5550 per dollar, off lows of 3.5850.

The currency, the second-worst performer among emerging Asian currencies this year, has fallen to more than five-year lows against the dollar on concerns over Malaysia's trade and fiscal balances. The country is a net oil exporter.

- Reuters