Bond issuance in South Korea rose sharply in October from the previous month due to increased debt sales by financial firms and the government, data showed Wednesday.

The value of bonds sold in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 65.4 trillion won ($55.4 billion) last month, up 8.4 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association.

Last month's increase compares with a 9.6 trillion-won on-month plunge recorded in September.

Sales of financial and state bonds swelled by 8.7 trillion won and 3.4 trillion won from September, respectively, while corporate bond sales fell by 872 billion won.

The issuance of environment, social and governance (ESG) bonds declined by 1.8 trillion won to 5.6 trillion won.

ESG bonds are a type of sustainability debt offering aimed at financing corporate activities in environmentally friendly and sustainable projects.

Foreign investors bought a net 5.9 trillion won worth of South Korean bonds in October, with their holdings of local bonds hitting an all-time high of 205.2 trillion won, up 1.5 trillion won from the prior month.

As of end-October, the value of outstanding bonds in the country reached 2,449.8 trillion won, up 16.3 trillion won from September, according to the data. (Yonhap)