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South Korean Government Bond Yields Climb Across All Maturities in August
Finance · Major Banks · yonhap_finance · 2026-09-10
South Korean government bond yields rose in August, driven by consecutive interest rate hikes by the Bank of Korea and climbing global long-term rates.
What Happened
Drivers of Yield Growth: Yields on South Korean government bonds increased across all maturities in August, influenced by the Bank of Korea's back-to-back interest rate hikes and rising long-term rates in major economies like the U.S. and Japan. The central bank raised the base rate to 3.00% during the month, signaling a firm tightening stance.
Market Milestones: The 30-year government bond yield hit an all-time high of 4.751% during intraday trading on August 18th. Meanwhile, the 3-year and 10-year yields closed the month at 3.838% and 4.313%, respectively, reflecting the broader upward trend in borrowing costs.
Issuance and Demand: Total bond issuance fell by 8.8 trillion won to 76.6 trillion won, with corporate bond issuance seeing a particularly sharp decline. Investor participation in corporate bond demand forecasts dropped significantly compared to the previous year, indicating a cooling appetite for corporate debt.
Foreign Investor Sentiment: Foreign investors shifted to a net-selling position, reducing their holdings of domestic bonds by 6.4 trillion won. Analysts attribute this shift to rising currency swap rates, which have diminished the attractiveness of arbitrage trading for foreign participants in the Korean bond market.