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SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's overseas direct investment rose in the third quarter compared to a year ago on continued demand in manufacturing and financial sectors, a government report showed Friday.

Local residents invested 9.06 billion U.S. dollars overseas in the July-September quarter, up 7.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

Investment in overseas manufacturing industry jumped 21.1 percent in the quarter, with those for overseas finance and insurance sector surging 33.4 percent. Investment in the real estate sector advanced 13.8 percent.

By region, investment into the Asian region soared 31.6 percent, with those into Latin America and North America gaining 24.1 percent and 23.5 percent respectively.

Green field investment, which builds factories and hires workers, reduced 2.7 percent amid the still struggling global economy, but the merger and acquisition (M&A) investment advanced 36.6 percent.

However, overseas direct investment in the third quarter fell from 13.38 billion dollars in the first quarter and 10.27 billion dollars in the second quarter amid the lingering uncertainty in the global economy.