[Digital Today reporter Sangyeop Oh (오상엽)] South Korea's stock market is seeing an unprecedented boom, pushing so-called debt-funded investing past 32 trillion won. Major brokerages are consecutively suspending new loans, citing exhausted credit-provision limits.

The Korea Financial Investment Association said that as of Feb. 26, brokerages' margin loan balances stood at 32.3684 trillion won.

That is a jump of more than 18 percent from the end of last year. After first topping 30 trillion won last month, the balance rose by more than 2 trillion won in less than a month.

With the KOSPI recently breaking above 6,000 and share prices rising sharply, demand for leverage from investors seeking high returns has concentrated explosively.

As debt-funded investing hit a record high in a short period, major brokerages that reached limits under the Capital Markets Act immediately shut their doors. Under the act, the total amount of credit provided by a comprehensive financial investment business cannot exceed 100 percent of its equity capital.

Korea Investment & Securities temporarily suspended new margin loan and stock-borrowing transactions from 8 a.m. on Tuesday until further notice. The firm previously suspended its stock-secured loan service on Feb. 3.

NH Investment & Securities will also temporarily suspend new margin purchases from Wednesday. The brokerage halted new stock-secured loans on Feb. 4 and moved to manage risk by cutting the margin limit on some C-rated stocks to 50 million won from 100 million won.

KB Securities temporarily restricted margin-buy orders from Feb. 26. It also blocked stock-secured loans backed by stocks and funds on Feb. 28.

With major brokerages successively shutting their lending windows, concerns are also being raised that volatility could increase further in a stock market nearing its leverage limit.