SEOUL, June 30 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's corporate bond sales logged a double-digit fall in May due to weaker financing demand from both industrial and financial companies, financial watchdog data showed Tuesday.
The issuance of corporate bonds retreated 15.4 percent from a month earlier to 18.78 trillion won (12.2 billion U.S. dollars) in May, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.
Bonds sold by industrial companies tumbled 49.2 percent to 2.12 trillion won (1.4 billion dollars), and financial firms' bond sales reduced 8.9 percent to 15.19 trillion won (9.8 billion dollars).
Outstanding corporate bonds totaled 749.39 trillion won (485.4 billion dollars) at the end of May, up 0.6 percent from a month earlier.
Equity financing, including initial public offerings and rights issuance, reached 1.36 trillion won (880.9 million dollars) in May, up 228.7 percent from the previous month. ■
