Bond sales in South Korea rose sharply from a month earlier in September helped by an increase in corporate bond issues, data showed Thursday. The value of bonds sold last month came to 77.1 trillion won (US$57.1 billion), up 7.4 trillion won from 69.7 trillion won sold in August, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association. The value of outstanding bonds, on the other hand, dropped 10.3 trillion won to 2,802.6 trillion won over the cited period, due to a sharp decline in national Treasury issues. In September, the country issued 10.9 trillion won in Treasurys, down from 18.3 trillion won the previous month. Corporate bond issuance added 3.3 trillion won to 10.1 trillion won over the same period. Demand forecasting for corporate bonds came to 5.99 trillion won in September, up 3.43 trillion won from a month earlier, the data showed. Sales of environment, social and governance bonds, a type of sustainability debt offering aimed at financing corporate activities in environmentall y friendly and sustainable projects, came to 5.6 trillion won in September, down 2.1 trillion won from the previous month. Foreign investors net purchased 14.9 trillion won worth of local bonds in September, which marked a 3.3 trillion won on-month gain and also the highest monthly net purchase of the year for a second consecutive month. Their overall bond holdings stood at 263.4 trillion won as of end-September, up 4.0 trillion won from a month earlier. Source: Yonhap News Agency