SEOUL, May 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's corporate bond sale rebounded last month due to strong funding demand from financial companies, financial watchdog data showed Tuesday.
The issuance of corporate bonds amounted to 23.94 trillion won (17.7 billion U.S. dollars) in April, up 28.6 percent compared to the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
After sliding in double figures in March, the double-digit turnaround came on the back of higher financing demand from financial companies.
Bonds, sold by industrial companies, declined 6.8 percent over the month to 4.33 trillion won (3.2 billion dollars) in April.
Financial companies-issued bonds jumped 47.3 percent to 18.2 trillion won (13.4 billion dollars), while the issuance of asset-backed securities (ABS) decreased 12.8 percent to 1.41 trillion won (1 billion dollars).
The country's central bank had left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.50 percent since January last year.
Equity financing, including the initial public offering (IPO) and the rights issuance, stood at 703.4 billion won (519.2 million dollars) in April, down 63.1 percent from the previous month. ■
