SEOUL, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's corporate bond sales plunged in double digits last month due to weaker demand from both industrial and financial companies, financial watchdog data showed Wednesday.
The corporate bond issuance dived 36.1 percent from a month earlier to 15.88 trillion won (about 11.7 billion U.S. dollars) in August, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.
Bonds sold by industrial companies dropped 88.8 percent to 310.0 billion won, and financial firms' bond sales sank 32.2 percent to 14.81 trillion won.
The asset-backed securities issuance soared 249.1 percent in the cited month.
Outstanding corporate bonds totaled 768.85 trillion won at the end of August, up 0.2 percent from a month earlier.
Equity financing, including initial public offerings and rights issuance, reached 454.9 billion won in August, down 69.5 percent compared to the previous month. ■