The U.S. trade gap narrowed more than expected in September amid strong exports and weaker U.S. demand for foreign oil.

The Commerce Department said today the deficit in international trade of goods and services fell to US$51.56 billion in September from US$53.55 billion in August. Economists had forecast a deficit of US$53.50 billion.

September marked the fourth straight month with the trade deficit above US$50 billion.

Despite the US$1.25 increase in the average per-barrel price of crude oil during September, the lower volume of imports meant that the U.S. oil bill dipped to US$11.42 billion from US$12.04 billion in August.

At the same time, exports climbed 0.8% to a record US$97.49 billion, with gains in nearly every major category, as the value of the U.S. dollar compared with other major currencies has been moving downward.

Deficits with major trading partners were mixed in September, Commerce said. The shortfall with China swelled to US$15.52 billion — the highest ever, but the deficit with Japan dipped to US$6.10 billion. The deficit with Canada fell to US$5.29 billion.

Meanwhile prices of goods imported into the U.S. rose at the fastest pace in five months. Overall import prices rose 1.5% last month, three times the rate in September, the Labor Department said today. The jump reflected a 11.7% surge in petroleum prices that was the largest since January 2003. But prices of non-petroleum imports fell for the first time in a year, dropping 0.2%.

In a separate release, the Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims rose by a smaller-than-expected 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 333,000 in the week that ended Nov. 6. The four-week average fell by 5,500 to a four-month low of 336,000.