Corporate direct financing by firms in South Korea grew 1.6 percent in November from a month earlier due to an increase in bond sales, data showed Wednesday.

Local companies raised a combined 19.45 trillion won ($16.3 billion) by selling stocks and bonds last month, up 300.3 billion won from the previous month, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.

Direct financing refers to raising funds directly from the stock and bond markets without borrowing from banks and other financial institutions.

The November growth is attributed to a rise in bond sales, which came to 17.52 trillion won, up 5.1 percent from a month earlier, the data showed.

In contrast, stock sales dropped 22.4 percent on-month to 1.93 trillion won in November as no large-scale initial public offerings (IPOs) were made, the data showed.

In November, there was a total of 10 IPOs, through which companies raised a combined 270 billion won, down 87.1 percent from 2.09 trillion won raised through 11 IPOs a month earlier, according to the data. (Yonhap)