*
KOSPI falls, foreigners net sellers
*
Korean won jumps against dollar
*
South Korea benchmark bond yield flat
SEOUL, March 23 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
** South Korean shares fell on Thursday, tracking weakness
in Wall Street, but losses were capped as investors found the
U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting outcome to be in line with
their expectations.
** The benchmark KOSPI was down 4.22 points, or
0.17%, to 2,412.74 as of 0113 GMT, after opening the session
0.8% lower.
** The Korean won jumped more than 1% against the dollar to
hit the strongest level in more than a month, while the
benchmark bond yield was flat.
** The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates by
a quarter of a percentage point, but indicated it was on the
verge of pausing further increases after the recent collapse of
two U.S. banks.
** U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that she had
not considered or discussed "blanket insurance" to U.S. banking
deposits.
** "If the Fed had held the rates steady, that would have
signalled bad health of the banking sector and rather had more
negative impact on investor sentiment," said Mirae Asset
Securities' analyst Park Kwang-nam.
** Park added the market was falling on Wall Street's
overnight weakness, but the Fed meeting outcome was still
positive for the stock market in the longer term.
** South Korea's finance minister said on Thursday
authorities would keep closely monitoring the markets situation
and take stabilisation measures if needed.
** Heavyweight chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix recovered early losses to turn higher,
while battery maker LG Energy Solution was only
marginally down by 0.17%.
** Of the total 927 issues traded, 198 shares rose.
** Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 5.9 billion
won ($4.6 million).
** The won strengthened as much as 1.24% to 1,291.7 per
dollar on the onshore settlement platform , hitting
the highest level since Feb. 17.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield
fell by 2.3 basis points to 3.267%, while the benchmark 10-year
yield rose by 0.4 basis point to 3.299%.
($1 = 1,292.1300 won)
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Varun H K)
