South Korea industrial output up 2.3%

South Korea's industrial production accelerated sharply in November to post a third consecutive monthly rise, according to government data. Production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries grew 2.3 percent from the previous month, up from narrow 0.7 percent gains in both October and September, Statistics Korea announced on Friday. The three months of expansion came after Asia's fourth largest economy logged three consecutive months of declines in factory output from June to August. From a year earlier, the November reading was up 2.9 percent, sharply rebounding from a 0.8 percent year-on-year fall in October. South Korea's export-driven economy has been slowed by shrinking overseas demand due to the eurozone crisis and a slowdown in US and Chinese markets. In a biannual economic outlook, the finance ministry on Thursday revised its earlier estimate of 4.0 percent economic growth in 2013 to 3.0 percent, and the 2012 estimate from 3.3 percent to 2.1 percent.