S. Korean bond sales edge up in Nov.

SEOUL, Dec. 10 (Yonhap) -- Bond sales in South Korea inched up in November from the previous month amid rising interest rates, data showed Thursday.

The value of bonds issued in the country came to 68.4 trillion won (US$63.1 billion) last month, up 1.8 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association.

The association attributed the gain largely to increased debt sales by local financial institutions.

Sales of financial bonds increased by 3 trillion won, and the issuance of state bonds rose by 6 trillion won. In contrast, corporate bond sales dropped by 1.4 trillion won.

As of end-November, the value of outstanding bonds stood at 2,271.6 trillion won, up 22.1 trillion won from the previous month.

Foreign investors bought a net 3 trillion won worth of South Korean bonds in November, with their holdings of local bonds falling by some 500 billion won to 150.2 trillion won.

The yield on three-year government bonds stood at 0.983 percent as of end-November, up 4.8 basis points, with that on 10-year state bonds rising 11.3 basis points to 1.659 percent.

The bond turnover amounted to 431.4 trillion won in November, up 54.9 trillion won from the prior month, according to the data.

(END)