South Korea's corporate direct financing inched up 2 percent in April from the previous month due largely to a rise in bond sales, data showed Tuesday.

Local companies raised a combined 24.9 trillion won ($22.1 billion) by selling stocks and bonds last month, up 492.7 billion won from the previous month, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Corporate stock sales declined 96 percent on-month to 250.4 billion won in April due to the previous month's high base.

In March, the country's vaccine maker SK Bioscience raised 994.5 billion won via initial public offering, and bigger firms, including top carrier Korean Air Lines Co., sold corporate bonds.

Local firms' bond offerings rose 34.2 percent on-month to 24.6 trillion won in April as more firms issued bonds to repay maturing debt.

The issuance of asset-backed securities fell 8.3 percent on-month to 1.5 trillion won, according to the data. (Yonhap)