South Korean companies' bond issuance rose 13.3 percent in the first half of the year from a year earlier, driven by massive debt sales by non-financial firms, the securities depository agency said Thursday.

   Local firms sold a total of 72 trillion won (US$68 billion) worth of debts in the January-June period, compared with 63.5 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Korea Securities Depository (KSD).

   Non-financial firms' debt issuance surged in the first half, jumping 24 percent on-year to 38.2 trillion won, as they heavily sold bonds to secure working capital and refinance maturing loans, said KSD.

   Financial companies' bond sales rose 3.2 percent to 33.8 trillion won, the agency said.

   In the first half, local companies redeemed a combined 54.8 trillion won of maturing bonds, taking their net issuance to 17.2 trillion won, according to KSD.

Source: Yonhap News (July 7, 2011)