SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's corporate bond sale logged a double-digit fall last month due to weaker funding demand from both industrial and financial companies, financial watchdog data showed Wednesday.
The issuance of corporate bonds declined 16.6 percent over the month to 23.61 trillion won (16.0 billion U.S. dollars) in October after growing in double figures in September, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
Bonds, sold by industrial companies, dived 37.8 percent to 3.55 trillion won (2.4 billion dollars) in October compared to the previous month.
Financial companies-issued bonds dropped 11.8 percent to 18.23 trillion won (12.4 billion dollars), while the issuance of asset-backed securities reduced 5.9 percent to 1.83 trillion won (1.2 billion dollars).
The country's central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in February and May each to 2.50 percent after cutting it by the same basis points in October and November last year.
Equity financing, including initial public offering and rights issuance, amounted to 93.9 billion won (63.7 million dollars) in October, down 74.6 percent from a month earlier. ■
