South Korea's current account surplus hit a record high in October on the back of brisk exports of cars, chips and tech products, the central bank said Thursday.

The current account surplus reached US$9.51 billion in October, up from a revised $6.54 billion in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade.

The October data marked the highest level since January 1980 when the BOK began to compile related data.

Korea posted the current account surplus for the 21st straight month in October with the combined surplus hitting $58.26 billion in the first 10 months of this year, it added.

Last month, the BOK revised up its 2013 current account surplus estimate to a record high of $63 billion and its 2014 surplus forecast currently stands at $45 billion.

The BOK said that exports gained momentum in October amid the economic recovery and the goods balance improved as prices of raw materials have stabilized.

"It will be possible for the country to meet a yearly estimate of the surplus," Jung Joon, director of the BOK's monetary and financial statistics division, said at a press conference.

He said that Korea's current account has undergone structural changes since 2012 as the current account surplus has been on the rise on the back of exports and improving service accounts.

Previously, the surplus was mostly led by overseas shipments.

The underlying trend of the surplus may lend support to the local currency, which has risen around 1 percent so far this year.

In the third quarter, the won gained 6.9 percent to the greenback compared with three months earlier.

The balance of Korea's goods posted a surplus of $7.03 billion in October, larger than the surplus of $5.7 billion in September.

In October, overseas shipments jumped 8.2 percent on-year to

$52.23 billion and imports gained 5.6 percent to $45.2 billion.

The service account, which includes outlays by South Koreans on overseas trips, posted a surplus of $1.65 billion last month, compared with a surplus of $872.5 million in September.

The primary income account, which tracks wages of foreign workers and dividend payments overseas, logged a surplus of $786 million in October, up from a surplus of $319.9 million the previous month.

The capital and financial account, which covers cross-border investments, posted a net outflow of $10.1 billion in October, compared with a net outflow of a revised $4.54 billion in the previous month, the BOK said. It marked the largest net outflow in five months in October. (Yonhap News)