SEOUL, April 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's corporate bond sale fell in double digits in March due to weak funding demand from both industrial and financial companies, financial watchdog data showed Monday.

The issuance of corporate bonds came in at 18.62 trillion won (13.5 billion U.S. dollars) in March, down 29.0 percent compared to the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

The double-digit reduction was attributable to lower financing demand from both industrial and financial firms.

The country's central bank had left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.50 percent since January 2023.

Bonds, sold by industrial companies, plunged 47.6 percent over the month to 4.64 trillion won (3.4 billion dollars) in March.

Financial companies-issued bonds dropped 22.1 percent to 12.36 trillion won (8.9 billion dollars), while the issuance of asset-backed securities (ABS) gained 7.0 percent to 1.62 trillion won (1.2 billion dollars).

Equity financing, including the initial public offering (IPO) and rights issuance, stood at 1.91 trillion won (1.4 billion dollars) in March, surging from 242.8 billion won (175.6 million dollars) in the previous month. Enditem

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