*
KOSPI rises, foreigners net buyers
*
Korean won strengthens against dollar
*
South Korea benchmark bond yield falls
SEOUL, March 6 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
** South Korean shares started the week higher on Monday,
helped by Wall Street's rally in the previous session, with
online platform service stocks leading the gains. The Korean won
strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.
** The benchmark KOSPI rose 12.38 points, or 0.50%,
to 2,444.45 as of 0143 GMT.
** "The market is nearing the end of a stronger monetary
policy tightening phase," said Seo Jung-hun, an analyst at
Samsung Securities.
** South Korea's consumer prices for February grew at their
slowest pace in 10 months, bolstering views that the central
bank is done with its current policy tightening cycle after it
held rates steady last month.
** South Korea's pension fund will collaborate with foreign
exchange authorities when needed to help stabilise the market,
including a re-establishment of its currency swap line with the
central bank, its chairman said.
** Instant messenger Kakao jumped 3.11% and
search engine Naver rose 2.92%, tracking U.S. tech
companies' gains on Wall Street last Friday.
** Technology giant Samsung Electronics rose
0.83%, peer SK Hynix gained 1.15% and battery maker
LG Energy Solution climbed 0.93%.
** Still, just 334 shares rose among 931 traded issues.
** Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 62.2 billion won ($47.89 million).
** The won was quoted at 1,299.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform , 0.15% higher than its previous close at 1,301.6.
** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year
treasury bonds rose 0.16 points to 103.41.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield
fell by 5.2 basis points (bps) to 3.740%, while the benchmark
10-year yield fell by 6.7 (bps) to 3.710%.
($1 = 1,298.9000 won)
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
