SEOUL, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The number of initial public offerings (IPOs) in South Korea fell in 2024 due to mounting stock market volatility, financial watchdog data showed Tuesday.
A total of 77 companies went public on the main KOSPI and the smaller KOSDAQ markets in 2024, down compared to 82 in the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
It was affected by lower IPOs among small companies on the KOSDAQ market.
Funds raised from the IPOs grew to 3.9 trillion won (2.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2024 from 3.3 trillion won (2.3 billion dollars) a year earlier on the back of higher large-scale IPOs.
The competition ratio for newly listed stocks was 775 to 1 in 2024, down 16.2 percent from a year earlier.
On the first day of trading, the average prices of the listed stocks closed 42 percent higher than IPO prices in 2024, compared to finishing 72 percent higher in 2023. ■
