S. Korea's producer price growth hits 3-month low in Oct.

South Korea's producer prices grew at their slowest on-year pace in three months in October due to eased growth of oil costs and the won's ascent, the central bank said Friday.

The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, inched up 0.2 percent in October from a year earlier, slowing from a 1 percent on-year gain in September, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The October figure marked the slowest expansion since July, when producer prices fell 0.1 percent on-year.

The index fell 0.7 percent in October from a month earlier, a turnaround from a 0.7 percent on-month gain in September, the BOK said.

Vegetable prices sharply fell on-month in October after shooting up in September when the harvest was hit by typhoons.

A BOK official said that oil prices also stabilized and the global economic slowdown chilled overall demand, curbing the growth of producer prices.

In October, prices of Dubai crude, South Korea's benchmark, grew 3 percent on-year, slowing from the 5 percent gain in the previous month. The Korean won gained 4.4. percent to the U.S. dollar last month from a year earlier.

The data came several hours before BOK policymakers meet to hold a rate-setting session. The bank is widely expected to freeze the key rate at 2.75 percent following its rate cut in October. (Yonhap News)