Corporate direct financing rises in Feb.

Direct financing by South Korean companies rose in February from a month earlier due to a jump in corporate bond sales, the financial watchdog said Thursday.

Local companies raised a combined 8.1 trillion won ($7.3 billion) last month by selling stocks and bonds, up 8.2 percent from 7.5 trillion won a month earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service .

But on-year, corporate financing for the first two months fell 10.4 percent to 15.7 trillion won from 17.5 trillion won a year earlier, the FSS said.

Corporate debt issuance increased 11.1 percent on-month to 8 trillion won, snapping four straight months of decline. The increase marked a turnaround from a five-month low of 7.2 trillion won in January.

LG Electronics Co., the country's second-biggest home appliances maker, led the bond sales, selling 750 billion won worth of debts last month, followed by Shinhan Bank with 747 billion won and Woori Bank with 667.6 billion won.

Stock offerings, however, slumped 52.9 percent on-month to 159.7 billion won in February on a 55.5 percent dive in capital increases through new shares issuance.

Only one company that went public in February on the secondary tech-savvy KOSDAQ bourse raised 11.8 billion won. (Yonhap)