South Korean companies’ stock and bond sales rose 19.7 percent in October from a month earlier due mainly to a robust gain in bond sales by financial firms, data showed Monday.

Local companies raised a combined 20.6 trillion won ($18.6 billion) by selling stocks and bonds in October, up 3.4 trillion won from September, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.

Last month, six companies raised a combined 1.07 trillion won through initial public offerings, up 52.5 percent from a month earlier, the FSS said.

Local businesses raised 19.4 trillion won by selling bonds, up 18.8 percent from September, the FSS said.

The outstanding value of bonds issued by Korean businesses came to 568.2 trillion won as of the end of October, up 1.5 percent from a month earlier. (Yonhap)