Seoul: Corporate direct financing saw an increase in February, driven by a rise in bond sales and stock offerings, as data revealed on Tuesday.

According to Yonhap News Agency, local companies raised a total of 19.25 trillion won (US$12.76 billion) in February by selling stocks and bonds. This marked an increase of 1.51 trillion won, or 8.5 percent, compared to the previous month, based on data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Stock sales experienced a significant surge, more than tripling to 341 billion won from the month prior. Additionally, corporate bond sales rose by 1.27 trillion won, or 7.2 percent, reaching 18.91 trillion won during the same period.

The data also indicated that the value of outstanding corporate bonds was 748.45 trillion won as of the end of February, which was a decrease of 4.41 trillion won, or 0.6 percent, from the previous month.