Corporate direct financing falls 11 pct in March

SEOUL, April 26 (Yonhap) -- Corporate direct financing in South Korea plunged 10.6 percent in March from the previous month, data showed Tuesday.

Local companies raised a combined 13.9 trillion won (US$11.1 billion) by selling stocks and bonds last month, down 1.65 trillion won from a month earlier, 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.

March stock sales plunged 32.1 percent on-month to 960.5 billion won. Bond sales fell 8.5 percent on-month to 12.9 trillion won, largely as the U.S.-led hike in the policy interest rates steeply raised market rates.

In March, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its policy rate by a quarter percentage point to 0.25-0.5 percent and signaled additional rate hikes throughout the rest of the year.

As of end-March, the value of outstanding corporate bonds had come to 628.8 trillion won, down 0.2 percent from a month earlier.

jwc@yna.co.kr
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