S. Korea's producer prices rise to 10-month high in Jan.

(ATTN: RECASTS lead; ADDS details in para 2-3)
SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's producer prices jumped to a 10-month high
in January as higher oil costs drove up prices of manufactured goods, the central
bank said Tuesday.
The prices of goods and services paid to producers jumped 2.8 percent last month
from a year earlier, in the biggest monthly rise since a 3.5 percent growth in
March last year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
January also marked a second month of year-on-year price advances. In December,
the producer prices rose 1.8 percent, ending seven months of falls, due to
increased oil prices.
"The price of the benchmark Dubai crude oil increased 74 percent to US$76.76 per
barrel in January from a year earlier, pushing up costs of manufactured
products," a BOK official said.
Prices for manufactured goods jumped 3.4 percent year-on-year, lifted by oil and
chemical-based products, the BOK data showed.
Rising costs for services also contributed to the January gain in the broader
producer-price measure after increasing stock brokerage commissions pushed up
service prices by 2 percent from a year ago, according to the BOK.
Compared with a month earlier, overall producer prices were up 0.7 percent last
month, the third monthly gain in a row.
The data comes as the central bank is set to make an interest rate decision on
Thursday. The bank is widely expected to hold the key policy rate unchanged at a
record low of 2 percent, taking the government's expansionary stance into
consideration.
The BOK left the rate steady for an 11th month in January after the government
sent a vice finance minister to the rate-setting meeting for the first time in a
decade.
The central bank has set its inflation target band for 2010-2012 at 3 percent,
with a margin of plus or minus 1 percentage point.
pbr@yna.co.kr
(END)