UPDATE 3-China trade surplus hits record, but imports strong

(Adds money supply figures, updates stocks, in last 3 paras)

By Jason Subler and Zhou Xin

BEIJING, Nov 12 (Reuters) - China on Monday posted a record monthly trade surplus for October, but the total was smaller than expected, suggesting that policies to restrain exports and promote imports might finally be having an impact.

The figures will be a relief to the Chinese authorities, who are under growing pressure from the United States and the European Union to reduce the imbalance.

The surplus came in at $27.05 billion, surpassing the record of $26.9 billion set in June. It also topped September's $23.9 billion surplus but was well below forecasts of $30 billion.

The final months of the year are usually busy ones for Chinese factories shipping Christmas orders, but exports grew more slowly than imports for the first time since March.

"China has been trying to boost imports this year, and it's time for these policies to start having an impact," said Li Yushi, vice-director of a Ministry of Commerce think-tank. "Of course, higher import prices, including oil, are also a reason."

Exports in October grew 22.3 percent from a year earlier, with imports up 25.5 percent. Economists had expected export growth of 22.4 percent, with imports up 20.0 percent.

"Export growth, I think, will continue to slow to below 20 percent in 2008 because U.S. growth is slowing down and China has tried to control exports itself," said Paul Cavey with Macquarie Securities in Hong Kong.