Sales of low-grade corporate bonds, once shunned by investors over high-rated corporate debts and safer government debts, rose sharply last month, showing signs of emerging good investment tools, data indicated Friday.

A total of 5.9 trillion won ($5.69 billion) worth of corporate bonds were sold in July, up 2.2 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Financial Investment Association.

The sales of corporate bonds rated “AA” or above totaled 4.45 trillion won last month, up 2.33 trillion won from the previous month. Debts rated “BBB” or below also increased sharply to reach 231 billion won last month from 146 billion won a month earlier, indicating that investors’ demand for low-rated debts is on a rise.

“Low-rated corporate debts have been ignored by investors on default concerns, but some of the low-rated companies have a good business portfolio to weather their weak financial status,” said Kim Ki-myong, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities. (Yonhap)