S.Korea annual consumer inflation softens for second month in Sept

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's annual consumer inflation came in below expectations and further softened in September, government data showed on Wednesday.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 5.6% in September from the same month a year ago, according to the Statistics Korea data, after a 5.7% rise in August, when the annual rate fell for the first time in seven months.

It was the slowest rate in four months and slightly below economists' forecasts of the rate remaining flat at 5.7%.

The CPI rose 0.3% on a monthly basis, slower than a 0.4% gain seen in a Reuters poll but rebounding from 0.1% decline in the previous month.

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)