SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's corporate bond sale logged a double-digit fall in August due to weaker funding demand from both industrial and financial companies, financial watchdog data showed Monday.
The issuance of corporate bonds dropped 20.5 percent over the month to 18.63 trillion won (13.4 billion U.S. dollars) in August, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.
Bonds, sold by industrial companies, stood at 862.0 billion won (618.6 million dollars) in August, down 71.1 percent from a month earlier.
Financial companies-issued bonds retreated 12.5 percent to 16.94 trillion won (12.2 billion dollars), while the issuance of asset-backed securities declined 24.5 percent to 826.7 billion won (593.3 million dollars).
The country's central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in February and May each to 2.50 percent after cutting it by the same basis points in October and November last year.
Equity financing, including initial public offerings and rights issuance, reached 886.2 billion won (635.9 million dollars) in August, sharply down from 4.81 trillion won (3.5 billion dollars) in the previous month. ■
