S. Korea's industrial output rebounds to 1.3 pct on-month growth in Dec.

SEJONG, Jan. 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's industrial output moved up for the first time in three months in December on the back of robust growth in the chemical and refinery sectors, a government report showed Friday.

According to the report by Statistics Korea, production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries gained 1.3 percent last month from a month earlier.

The increase marks a rebound after two straight months of negative growth.

Compared with a year earlier, however, industrial production fell 1.9 percent.

Production in the service sector, a key part of the economy, remained unchanged from a month earlier but rose 3 percent from a year earlier.

Domestic spending edged down 0.1 percent on-month in December due to a drop in sales of clothing and food, according to the report, while the figure jumped 3.5 percent on-year on the back of stellar sales of durable goods.

brk@yna.co.kr
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