Industrial production in Singapore grew 1.2 per cent last month compared with September, snapping four straight months of declines.
However, economists said yesterday's widely watched figure was weak, and reinforced fears about the fragility of the city-state's economy.
They noted that output from the critical electronics sector, which accounts for about 60 per cent of non-oil exports, rose a modest 3.8 per cent in October compared with the preceding month.
Compared with October last year, total industrial production rose 11.8 per cent - in line with the consensus forecast.
Industrial production offers a key insight into the health of the trade-dependent economy, which has slowed as the year-end has approached amid weakness in Singapore's main export markets.
The deceleration prompted the government earlier this month to cut its full-year gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to a range of two per cent to 2.5 per cent, down from an earlier band of three per cent to four per cent.