South Korea's card spending grew sharply in November, data showed Tuesday, pointing to a gradual recovery in domestic demand.

Purchases made with plastic cards reached 54.1 trillion won ($45.94 billion) last month, up 9.8 percent from a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Credit Finance Association.

The data includes transactions on credit, debit and prepaid cards. Cash advances, overseas spending and card loans were not included.

Of the amount, credit card spending increased 8.8 percent on-year to 42.74 trillion won, while those of debit cards advanced 14.2 percent to 11.22 trillion won over the cited period, according to the data.

"The improvement in consumer sentiment is attributable to the increase in the overall card spending," the CREFIA said in a release.

The consumer sentiment index reached its highest this year at 106, mainly in November, on the back of a better outlook for income, according to data from the Bank of Korea. A consumer sentiment index value above 100 means that optimists outnumber pessimists.

The index has been on a steady rise after dipping below the benchmark 100 in June for the first time since December 2012 in the wake of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak that claimed 38 lives here. The disease particularly hurt the country's retail and local tourism industries. (Yonhap)