Stock transactions via mobile devices have continued to rise sharply as more retail investors have opted to use their smartphones and tablet PCs for stock trading, the bourse operator said Monday.

Stock trading via mobile gadgets made up for some 25 percent of the total transactions on the country’s main bourse last month, compared with 21 percent tallied a year earlier, according to the Korea Exchange.

Comparable figures for 2012 and 2011 were 14.45 percent and 7.55 percent, the data showed.

The monthly value of mobile device-based trading reached some 13.8 trillion won ($12.9 billion) last month, the KRX said.

Market watchers said the rise in the use of the mobile trading system can mainly be attributed to the sharp increase in the number of smartphone users over the past few years in South Korea. (Yonhap)