Singapore's external trade up 2.3 pct in December

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX), a key gauge of the export performance of the small and highly open economy, rose by 2.3 percent in December on year, due to the rise in both eletronic and non-electronic exports, trade promotion agency International Enterprise Singapore said on Friday.

On a yearly basis, electronic exports increased 0.4 percent in December, after the 10.2 percent decline in the previous month. The decrease was largely due to integrated circuits, telecommunications equipment and PCs.

Non-electronic exports expanded by 3.2 percent on-year in December, following the 6.2 percent rise in the previous month, led by specialized machinery, food preparations, and non-electric engines and motors.

NODX to all of the top 10 markets, except China, the U.S., Japan and Indonesia, rose in December of 2014. The top three contributors to the expansion were South Korea, Malaysia and the E. U.

NODX to the Chinese mainland declined further by 7.8 percent in December on year, after the previous month's decrease of 7.1 percent.

Non-oil re-exports (NORX) rose by 8.7 percent in December, following the 3.5 percent increase in November, due to an expansion in both electronic and non-electronic re-exports, IE said.

On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, NODX rose by 0.1 percent in December, following the previous month's 2.1 percent increase, due to the expansion in electronic trade which outweighed the decline in non-electronic trade. Endi