SEOUL, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea reported a surge in bond issuance, as well as in balance and trading volume, mainly due to increase in state bonds and brisk export conditions, the bourse operator said Monday.

    According to the Korea Exchange (KRX), the total bonds issued in South Korea in 2009 stood at 698.5 trillion won (623 billion U.S. dollars), soaring 71.9 percent from a year earlier.

    As of end-2009, South Korea's bond balance reached 1,014.2 trillion won (837.4 billion U.S. dollars), which is a 17.4 percent gain from a year ago.

    The trading volume also hiked 784 trillion won, or 43.7 percent, from 2008, marking 2,578 trillion won (2.3 trillion U.S. dollars) during the cited period, the KRX said.

    "Due to the government's supplementary budget and a record-hitting current account surplus, the amount of state bonds and monetary stabilizing bonds surged, which led the growth of the bond issuance," the KRX explained.

    Meanwhile, the yield five-year state bonds also increased by 1 percentage point, recovering the level before the global financial crisis, the KRX said.    

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