The country's current account surplus increased 42.5 percent in the first half of fiscal 2002 from a year earlier to 6.96 trillion yen on the back of brisk exports to Asia, according to a preliminary report released Monday by the Finance Ministry.

The surplus in the April-September period marked an increase for two consecutive six-month periods.

But in September alone, it fell for the first time in 12 months, to 1.17 trillion yen, down 6.8 percent year-on-year. The drop was mainly due to recovering overseas travel by Japanese people, a factor that pushed up the deficit in the service account.