By Nina Adam

FRANKFURT--Germany's trade surplus in October was slightly smaller than expected, as exports recovered only modestly after September's decline.

German exports in October rose 0.5% from the month before, adjusted for seasonal swings and calendar effects, while imports increased 1.3%, the Destatis statistics body said Friday.

Total exports in the first ten months of the year were 0.3% higher than in the same period in 2015, a sign that uncertainties in the wake of the U.S. presidential election and the U.K.'s vote to leave the European Union are already hurting Europe's largest export nation.

Compared with October last year, German exports were down 4.1%. But a "calendar effect" weighed on the outcome, a statistician at Destatis said, as there were two fewer working days in October 2016 than in October 2015.

The adjusted trade surplus, meanwhile, fell to 20.5 billion euros ($21.8 billion) from a revised EUR21.1 billion in September, below economists' forecasts of EU21.0 billion.

Germany's current account balance--a broad measure of an economy's international financial position--showed a surplus of EUR18.4 billion in October, on a non-adjusted basis. The outcome was below economists' forecasts and below the surplus of EUR21.7 billion recorded in October last year.

Write to Nina Adam at nina.adam@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 09, 2016 02:48 ET (07:48 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.