South Korean companies' direct financing surged 62 percent in April from a month earlier as local firms rushed to issue stocks and bonds on expected rate hikes by the central bank, the financial watchdog said Monday.

Corporate financing through public offers such as equity and bond issues amounted to 14.66 trillion won (13.57 billion U.S. dollars), up 62 percent from 9.05 trillion won the previous month, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said in a statement.

The April's sharp expansion was attributable to bank holding firms' massive rights offering and the increase in corporate bond issues on expectations the Bank of Korea (BOK) will continue its key rate normalization process down the road, according to the FSS.

Equity financing, including initial public offering (IPO) and rights offerings, soared 334.9 percent on-month to 1.52 trillion won in April. South Korea's third-largest bank holding firm Shinhan Financial Group raised 1.1 trillion won by selling new shares, contributing to surging equity financing, the FSS said.

Debt financing, or bonds issued by industrial companies and financial firms, jumped 51.1 percent on-month to 13.14 trillion won last month as domestic businesses rushed to raise necessary funds in advance on expectations the BOK will keep its rate hikes in coming months, according to the statement.

Accumulated direct financing reached 48.59 trillion won for the first four months of this year, up 22.7 percent from the same period last year, the FSS added.