SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's corporate bond sales surged in double digits in September, driven by strong demand from industrial and financial companies, financial watchdog data showed Tuesday.
Corporate bond issuance soared 77.5 percent from a month earlier to 28.17 trillion won (about 21.26 billion U.S. dollars) in September, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.
Bonds sold by industrial companies skyrocketed 457.7 percent to 1.73 trillion won, while financial firms' bond sales jumped 74.2 percent to 25.80 trillion won.
The asset-backed securities issuance retreated 14.3 percent in the cited month.
Outstanding corporate bonds totaled 777.12 trillion won at the end of September, up 1.1 percent from a month earlier.
Equity financing, including initial public offerings and rights issuance, reached 385.3 billion won in September, down 15.3 percent compared to the previous month. ■
