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AMSTERDAM (REUTERS) - Global semiconductor sales in October grew by a slightly faster-than-expected 1.8 percent to $12.52 billion compared with September, according to figures published on Friday by the chip industry's main industry group.

Numbers for October from the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) group showed that sales of chips, used in electronic devices ranging from computers and mobile phones to shavers and cars, rose 19.9 percent from the same month a year earlier, when the economic uncertainty following the Sept. 11 attacks weighed on demand.

The month-on-month sales growth was slightly slower than in September, when sales grew 3 percent from August following the traditionally slower summer months.

Still, financial analysts said the numbers were slightly better than expected amid gloomy expectations for a slow holiday selling season because of political and economic uncertainty.

"It's at the top end of expectations but generally in line with what companies have been saying," said analyst Uche Orji at investment bank JP Morgan in London, who had been looking for 1.5 percent monthly growth.

The $139 billion-a-year industry usually sees a holiday rally toward the end of the year as electronics makers stock up on the semiconductors that make DVD players, toys and games consoles work.

The news had little impact on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange's semiconductor index .SOXX>,a proxy for the chip sector. The index began the day in positive territory but soon began to slip. It was down about 1 percent at 377.58 points in low-volume late-morning trading.

The WSTS numbers mainly refer to chips sold for holiday season products, Investec analyst Eric Ross said.

"It's a short-term indicator that things are reasonably okay," and that PC and cell phone makers are not pulling back on manufacturing, he said. "But it doesn't give any indication of when we're going to come out of (the sector downturn)."

The Dow Jones European technology index .SX8P>, in slightly negative territory all day, was off 1.4 percent at 240.26 points at around 1600 GMT. The FTSE European semiconductor index .FTTXSC> was down almost 5 percent at 227.17 points, slightly underperforming the FTSE Eurotop 300 .FTEU3>, which was down about 4 percent.

Wireless chips in particular sold well as demand for fancier phones with color screens and cameras increased the need for more chips and more powerful chips.

Sales of flash memory, on which pictures and other data are stored, and digital signal processors, which are the nerve centers of mobile phones, rose 6.9 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively, according to the U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) which publishes the WSTS numbers.

Europe's chip plants are relatively strong in mobile phone components -- supplying to industry leaders such as handset maker Nokia, which produces almost half of its annual output of 150 million phones in Europe. It helped explain why Europe's chip sales outgrew all other regions in the world.

October chip sales, measured as a three-month average to eliminate short-term swings, grew fastest in Europe by 6.2 percent to $2.46 billion from September.

Revenues in the Americas grew 0.5 percent month-on-month to $2.65 billion, and in Asia Pacific by 1.0 percent to $4.56 billion. Sales in Japan were up 0.8 percent at $2.85 billion.

Monthly sales growth in Asia and the Americas, where producers are more dependent on the sluggish computer market, tapered off compared with earlier months. Europe was the only region in which month-on-month growth accelerated.

Compared with October a year earlier, sales grew 11.7 percent in Europe, 5.2 percent in the Americas and 35.1 percent in Asia Pacific. Japan grew 21.4 percent.

The comparison is relatively easy this year because of last year's

On an annual basis, chip sales growth was accelerating in both Europe and Japan, while slowing in Asia and Americas. Lucas van Grinsven