Korean companies’ bond sales rose 9.4 percent in the first half from a year earlier, led by state-run firms, as borrowing costs have been on the decline amid economic uncertainty, the securities depository agency said Monday.

Bond issuances by financial and non-financial firms amounted to 154.2 trillion won ($135 billion) in the January-June period, compared with 141 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Korea Securities Depository.

State-run companies sold bonds worth 45.4 trillion won in the first half, up 51.3 percent from a year earlier, it added.

Debt sales by financial institutions and companies declined in the period, however, as they were wary of selling bonds in expectations of further lowering borrowing costs.

Financial institutions sold debts worth of 53 trillion won in the first half, down 5.5 percent from a year earlier, it added.

Bond sales by non-financial firms reached 29.2 trillion won during the cited period, down 2.3 percent from the previous year as some companies showed a wait-and-see mode on expectations the central bank may cut the key rate to support growth. Compared with the previous six months, their debt issuances gained 11.5 percent.

The data came as the global economic outlook gets bleaker, beset by the eurozone debt crisis. The Korean economy is slowing down as exports lose steam amid the global economic slowdown.

The KSD said sales of certificates of deposits declined 43.1 percent on-year to 5.8 trillion won in the first half. The fall in the CD sales came as banks refrained from selling them to meet the regulation to keep loan-to-deposit ratios below 100 percent by 2014. 

(Yonhap News)