S. Korea's IPOs hit record high in 2021

South Korea's initial public offerings (IPOs) hit a new record high last year amid ample liquidity, financial watchdog data showed Monday.

The amount of money raised through IPOs on the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the tech-heavy Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) markets reached a new yearly high of 19.7 trillion won (16.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2021, according to Financial Supervisory Service.

It more than quadrupled compared to 4.54 trillion won (3.8 billion U.S. dollars) tallied in 2020.

A total of 89 companies went public in 2021, up from 70 in the previous year.

The record-high stock listings came as the record-low policy rate increased liquidity in the stock market.

The country's central bank raised its key rate from an all-time low of 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent in August and to 1 percent in November respectively, but the rate stayed near the record-low level.

The bid ratio for IPO stocks surged to an average of 1,136 to 1 in 2021 from the 956-to-1 ratio in the previous year.

The average closing price for newly listed stocks was 57.4 percent higher on the first trading day than the IPO price.