Data showed that South Korea's October exports rose unexpectedly on the back of a robust demand for ships and chips, even though businesses were cautious due to a clouded global outlook caused by Washington's trade policies.

In October, exports from Asia's 4th largest economy, which is a bellwether of global trade, reached $59.57 billion, up 3.6% compared to a year ago. A poll of economists had predicted a 0.2% drop.

Exports of semiconductors increased 25.4% compared to a year ago. Ship sales increased by 131.2% while petrochemical sales grew 12.7%.

Imports fell 1.5% to $53.52 Billion in October.

The monthly trade surplus was $6.06 billion compared to $9.53 billion last September. (Reporting and editing by Himani Sarkar; Cynthia Kim)

(source: Reuters)