Corporate direct financing gains 12% in January

Financial Supervisory Service (Yonhap)

South Korea's corporate direct financing rose 12 percent in January from the previous month due to a modest gain in bond sales, data showed Tuesday.

Local companies raised a combined 15.4 trillion won ($13.8 billion) by selling stocks and bonds last month, up 1.66 trillion won from a month ago, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Corporate stock sales sank 40.8 percent on-month to 1.31 trillion won, with the value of initial public offerings declining 11.1 percent to 289.6 billion won.

Local businesses' bond offerings rose 28.1 percent on-month to 13.5 trillion won in January.

Last month, the issuance of asset-backed securities plunged 45.7 percent on-month to 609 billion won, according to the data. (Yonhap)