Japan's trade surplus up 62.7 pc in September

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TOKYO, Oct 24 (AFP): Japan's trade surplus in September jumped 62.7 per cent from a year earlier on strong exports of automobiles and lower imports of oil, the government said today.
The surplus came to 1,637.8 billion yen (14.3 billion dollars), higher than economists' average forecast for a surplus of some 1,460 billion yen.
Exports rose 6.5 per cent to 7,270.4 billion yen to score year-on-year growth for the 46th consecutive month, backed by the 6.1 per cent rise in automobile exports, according to the finance ministry data.
Shipments of telecommunications devices also surged 103.0 per cent to help boost the overall surplus.
Imports fell 3.2 per cent to 5,632.5 billion yen, the first drop in 43 months, as crude oil imports tumbled 12.4 per cent.
Other contributors to the drop include semiconductors and other electronic components with a 13.9 per cent decline and computers and peripheral equipment with a 16.7 per cent drop.
For the April-September first half of Japan's fiscal year, the trade surplus grew 45.7 per cent from the same period last year to 5,559.3 billion yen.