Seoul: Corporate direct financing saw an uptick in March, driven by a rise in both bond sales and stock offerings, as revealed by recent data.

According to Yonhap News Agency, local companies collectively raised 19.98 trillion won (US$13.57 billion) last month through the sale of stocks and bonds. This marks an increase of 734 billion won, or 3.8 percent, compared to the previous month, based on data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

The data indicates that stock sales experienced a significant rise of 98.7 billion won, or 28.9 percent, reaching 440 billion won in March. Similarly, corporate bond sales also surged by 635 billion won, or 3.4 percent, totaling 19.54 trillion won during the same period.

Despite these increases, the value of outstanding corporate bonds at the end of March was recorded at 747.32 trillion won, which reflects a decrease of 1.13 trillion won, or 0.2 percent, from the preceding month, as per the data provided.