South Korea maintained a current account surplus for the 79th consecutive month in September thanks to strong chip exports. 

According to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea on Tuesday, the country's current account surplus came to ten-point-83 billion dollars in September, topping the ten-billion-dollar mark for the first time in a year. 

That's the largest figure since September last year when it posted 12-point-29 billion dollars. 

The surplus was mainly led by the goods account surplus, which rose to 13-point-24 billion dollars. 

The service account remained in the red, posting a deficit of two-point-52 billion dollars, while the travel account deficit marked one-point-13 billion dollars, accounting for about half of the service account deficit.