SEOUL, March 31 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's corporate bond sale grew last month owing to strong funding demand from financial companies, financial watchdog data showed Tuesday.
The issuance of corporate bonds rose 7.2 percent to 18.91 trillion won (12.5 billion U.S. dollars) in February compared to the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.
Financial companies' bond sale jumped 37.6 percent to 13.37 trillion won (8.8 billion dollars), but the issuance of asset-backed securities tumbled 42.6 percent to 427.5 billion won (281.8 million dollars).
Bonds sold by industrial companies declined 28.7 percent to 5.11 trillion won (3.4 billion dollars) last month.
Outstanding corporate bonds stood at 748.45 trillion won (493.3 billion dollars) at the end of February, down 0.6 percent from a month earlier.
Equity financing, including initial public offering and rights issuance, ran to 341.5 billion won (225.1 million dollars) in February, up 215.6 percent compared to the previous month. ■
