US loan issuance rises 73 pct in first half-RLPC

NEW YORK, June 30 (Reuters) - U.S. loan issuance in the first half of 2010 totalled $476.5 billion, up 73 percent from $275.2 billion in the first half of 2009, as investor appetite for senior debt improved, according to Thomson Reuters Loan Pricing Corp.

Leveraged loan issuance jumped 62 percent to $169.2 billion in the first six months, up from $104.5 billion in the same period a year ago. Investment-grade loans rose 38 percent to $182.9 billion, from $132.8 billion in the first half of 2009, RLPC reported on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Walden Siew and John Parry, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)