S.Korea's production, consumption, investment fall in September

SEOUL, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's industrial production kept falling for the third straight month, with private consumption and facility investment sliding in September, statistical office data showed Monday.

The seasonally-adjusted production in all industries, which exclude the agriculture, livestock and fishery sector, shed 0.6 percent in September from a month earlier after reducing 0.2 percent in July and 0.1 percent in August, according to Statistics Korea.

Output among manufacturers retreated 1.8 percent last month, keeping a downward trend for the third consecutive month on weak activity in the steel, semiconductor and automotive sectors.

Production in the services industry declined 0.3 percent in September amid the weakened domestic demand.

The seasonally-adjusted retail sale index, which reflects private consumption, went down 1.8 percent in September on a monthly basis.

Facility investment diminished 2.4 percent last month on lower investment in machinery.

The cyclical variation factor for leading economic indicators, which gauge outlook for the future economic situation, lost 0.1 point over the month to 99.2 in September.

The reading for coincident economic indicators, which measures the current economic conditions, added 0.1 point to 102.4 last month.