SEOUL, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Corporate financing in South Korea rose last month as companies rushed to sell stocks and bonds amid the record-low interest rates, financial watchdog data showed Wednesday.
Stock issuance surged to 2.85 trillion won (2.54 billion U.S. dollars) in April from 979 billion won in the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
The bond sales increased from 10.32 trillion won to 16.98 trillion won in the cited period as bond issuance surged amid the expected rate hike by the central bank.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) cut its benchmark interest rate from 3.25 percent in July 2012 to an all-time low of 1.25 percent in June last year.
Pressures grew on the BOK to raise its record-low policy rate amid the expected rate increase in the United States as early as next month.
The U.S. Federal Reserve lifted its policy rate to a range of 0.75-1.00 percent. If the U.S. benchmark rate is raised in the near future, its upper end would be identical to South Korea's policy rate and may cause an abrupt foreign capital exodus from the South Korean financial market.
Domestic companies and financial institutions issued bonds and stocks to use the record-low borrowing costs amid the expected rate increase by the BOK.
