SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's corporate bond sale fell in August due to weaker funding demand from industrial companies, financial watchdog data showed Wednesday.
The issuance of corporate bonds declined 1.9 percent over the month to 19.72 trillion won (15.1 billion U.S. dollars) in August, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
Bonds, sold by industrial companies, dived 56.1 percent to 1.40 trillion won (1.05 billion dollars) in August compared to the previous month.
Financial companies-issued bonds added 3.0 percent to 16.83 trillion won (12.6 billion dollars) last month, while the issuance of asset-backed securities more than doubled to 1.49 trillion won (1.1 billion dollars).
The country's central bank has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.50 percent since January 2023.
Equity financing, including initial public offering (IPO) and rights issuance, came to 383.7 billion won (287.4 million dollars) in August, down 74.6 percent from a month earlier. ■
