South Koreas current account surplus hit a new record high in September due mainly to the third-largest monthly exports, central bank data showed Friday.

Current account surplus, the broadest measures of cross-border trade in goods and services, reached a fresh high of 12.21 billion U.S. dollars in September, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It surpassed the previous high of 12.09 billion dollars tallied in June last year. The September figure was up from 8.08 billion dollars a year earlier and 6.06 billion dollars a month ago.

The current account balance has stayed in the black for 67 months since March 2012.

Trade surplus for goods hit a new record high of 15.01 billion dollars in September, topping the prior high of 12.95 billion dollars registered in June 2015. It was up from 10.66 billion dollars a year earlier.

The record trade surplus stemmed from robust exports, which account for about half of South Korea's economy.

Exports reached the third-biggest monthly reading of 55.09 billion dollars in September, keeping an upward trend for the 11th straight month. Imports came in at 40.08 billion dollars.

During the January-September period, the trade surplus for goods amounted to 93.38 billion dollars, the largest-ever recorded by the South Korean economy.

Strong demand for locally-made semiconductors led the brisk exports of the economy, which were also helped by the global economic recovery and higher oil product prices.

Services account balance posted a deficit of 2.9 billion dollars in September, up from a 2.5-billion-dollar deficit a year earlier.

For the first nine months of this year, the services deficit amounted to 24.26 billion dollars, marking the bigger reading than any deficit tallied in the cited period. In the same period of last year, the deficit was 13.49 billion dollars.

The travel account deficit was 1.31 billion dollars as the number of Chinese tourists continued to fall from early this year. During the January-September period, the deficit hit a record high of 12.25 billion dollars, topping the prior high of 12.08 billion dollars in 2007.

The falling pace of Chinese travelers, however, slowed from 69.3 percent in July to 61.2 percent in August and 56.1 percent in September.

Primary income account, which gauges investment and interest income as well as salary, registered a surplus of 11.5 billion dollars in September.

Financial account, which measures cross-border capital flow without transactions in goods and services, recorded an outflow of 12.75 billion dollars in September as local residents increased investment abroad.

Direct investment abroad by local residents gained 4.09 billion dollars in September, while foreign direct investment into South Korea rose 1.82 billion dollars.

Local residents invested 6.45 billion dollars in foreign securities in the month, while foreign buying of local securities reduced 3.9 billion dollars amid geopolitical risks on the Korean Peninsula, the data showed.