Roundup: S.Korea sees current account surplus for 55 months

South Korea saw current account surplus for 55 straight months, the longest monthly surplus in history, due to a surplus in trade for goods, central bank data showed on Tuesday.

Current account surplus was 8.26 billion U.S. dollars in September, marking the longest monthly surplus in history since March 2013, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The September number was up 2.98 billion dollars from the previous month as trade surplus for goods increased to 10.76 billion dollars, up 3.71 billion dollars compared with a month earlier.

Exports declined 2.4 percent from a year earlier to 44.01 billion dollars in September, while imports edged up 0.1 percent to 33.25 billion dollars.

Auto exports tumbled 25.1 percent as labor strikes in major automakers, including top automaker Hyundai Motor, disrupted production and delayed overseas shipments.

Shipments of telecommunication devices, including smartphones, plunged 21.2 percent as Samsung Electronics discontinued its latest flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphones on reported cases of faulty devices catching fire and overheating.

Imports increased for two straight months thanks to strong demand for general machinery and precision machines, of which imports jumped 11.6 percent to 4.08 billion dollars over the previous year in September.

Services account deficit expanded from 1.45 billion dollars in August to 2.54 billion dollars in September as the services industry, especially the transport sector, was hit hard by the filing of Hanjin Shipping for court receivership.

Hanjin, South Korea's largest container shipping line, went bankrupt as it suffered losses for long from lower freight rates and higher charter rates amid global economic slowdown that reduced trade between countries.

The September deficit in the services account was the largest since the account recorded a 2.65 billion-dollar deficit in December 2010.

The transport account balance turned into red worth 240 million dollars in September from a 30 million-dollar surplus in August. Travel account posted a deficit of 1.09 billion dollars, while the intellectual property rights account logged a deficit of 390 million dollars.

Primary income account, which gauges investment and interest income as well as salary, was a surplus of 830 million dollars in September.

Financial account, which measures cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, registered an outflow of 10.65 billion dollars.

Overseas direct investment by local residents increased 1.63 billion dollars, while foreigners invested 600 million dollars in South Korea.

Portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond transactions, recorded an outflow of 8.92 billion dollars. Local investment into foreign securities expanded 6.98 billion dollars, while foreign investment into local securities reduced 1.94 billion dollars. Enditem