The number of stock trading accounts at local brokerage houses reached a historic high this year as more retail investors opened new accounts ahead of big initial public offerings (IPOs), data showed Wednesday.

The accounts that have been used for stock transactions over the past six months increased to 20.97 million as of Dec. 26, according to data by the Korea Financial Investment Association (KFIA).

Active trading accounts first surpassed 10 million in July 2007 and reached over 20 million in May 2012 but had remained below 20 million since October 2012 until bouncing back to over 20.5 million in November 2013. 

The number of securities accounts sharply rose in the latter half of this year, adding 392,000 accounts in six months since July, as retail investors turned their eyes to the IPO market for bigger returns.

The amount of money raised by newly listed firms this year jumped nearly fourfold compared to 2013 to hit a three-year high, boosted by market debuts of big name companies, including Samsung Group affiliates.

Cheil Industries Inc., the de facto holding firm of Samsung Group, debuted on the Seoul bourse with a bang earlier this month, raising 1.5 trillion won (US$1.3 billion), the country's largest IPO in four years. IT services provider Samsung SDS Co. also drew in more than 1 trillion won via its initial public offering in November.

"As the public attention was high for big IPOs, many first opened their securities accounts to buy newly issued stocks," the KFIA said. 

Some individual investors spread out deposits in several accounts to raise chances of purchasing hot IPO stocks amid the tight competition.

"Those who do have securities accounts opened new accounts at other securities firms or used dormant accounts," said Kang Seung-kwon, a researcher at Daishin Securities Co. "As active accounts increased thanks to the IPO boom, the number could go down in time."

(Yonhap)