S. Korea’s corporate bond sale falls in October

SEOUL, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) — South Korea’s corporate bond sale fell last month due to weaker funding demand from financial companies, financial watchdog data showed Monday.
The issuance of corporate bonds shed 3.8 percent over the month to 30.32 trillion won (21.7 billion U.S. dollars) in October, after growing in double digits in September, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
Bonds, sold by industrial companies, soared 63.7 percent to 5.03 trillion won (3.6 billion dollars) in October compared to the previous month.
Financial companies-issued bonds dropped 14.4 percent to 22.92 trillion won (16.4 billion dollars), while the issuance of asset-backed securities (ABS) jumped 40 percent to 2.38 trillion won (1.7 billion dollars) last month.
The country’s central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.25 percent in October.
Equity financing, including initial public offering (IPO) and rights issuance, stood at 767.6 billion won (549.9 million dollars) in October, up from 111.1 trillion won (79.6 million dollars) in the previous month. ■