Korea January output beats forecasts

SEOUL: South Korea's industrial output rose a stronger-than- expected 3.4 percent in January month on month, signaling a rebound in Asia's third largest economy is on track, government data showed on Wednesday.

January's jump in output reversed a 1.6 percent fall in December and outperformed a rise of 3.3 percent forecast in a Reuters poll of 10 research houses.

Year on year, January output rose a better-than-expected 10.2 percent in its strongest gain since October 2000.

Inventories fell 5.4 percent year on year in their biggest drop in 17 months, while a rise in a factory utilization ratio to 76.4 from 71.8 percent a month earlier underscored the economy's rebound. -- Reuters