South Korea February factory output rises faster than expected

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s factory output rose in February, government data showed on Monday, beating market expectations.

Industrial production rose 1.0% in February from a month earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis, compared with a dip of 2.8% in January and an increase of 0.8% tipped in a Reuters poll.

On a year-on-year basis, output jumped 7.0%, faster than a 2.0% rise forecast by economists, after falling 4.7% in the previous month.

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Kim COghill)