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* KOSPI rises, foreigners net buyers
* Korean won strengthens against U.S. dollar
* South Korea benchmark bond yield rises
SEOUL, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
** South Korean shares climbed on Wednesday, tracking overnight
gains in Wall Street, as investor hopes for more fiscal stimulus
offset worries about rising domestic coronavirus cases. The
Korean won and the benchmark bond yield strengthened.
** By 0228 GMT, the benchmark KOSPI was up 38.04 points,
or 1.41%, at 2,738.97.
** South Korea reported 686 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday
as it battles a third wave of infection that is threatening to
overwhelm its healthcare system.
** Britain on Tuesday became the first Western nation to begin a
wide vaccination campaign, while U.S. drugmaker Johnson &
Johnson reported that it could obtain late-stage trial
results for a single-dose vaccine in January, earlier than
expected.
** The Trump administration proposed a $916 billion coronavirus
relief package on Tuesday, after congressional Democrats shot
down a suggestion for a pared-down plan from the Senate's
leading Republican, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
** Sentiment is definitely up after the relief package bill made
some progress in the United States, and vaccine hopes are
helping as well, said Seo Sang-young, an analyst at Kiwoom
Securities.
** The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.35% on
Tuesday, the S&P 500 gained 0.28%, in part due to a boost
from the healthcare sector on positive COVID-19 vaccine news.
** Foreigners were net buyers of 98.8 billion won worth of
shares on the main board.
** The won was quoted at 1,084.2 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform , 0.11% higher than its previous
close at 1,085.4.
** The KOSPI rose 24.63% so far this year, and gained 15.9% in
the previous 30 trading sessions.
** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index
was 583.38 million shares. Of the total traded issues of
907, the number of advancing shares was 582.
** The won gained 6.7% against the dollar so far this year.
** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year
treasury bonds fell 0.01 points to 111.68.
** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.8
basis points to 0.967%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose
by 1.3 basis points to 1.655%.
(Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Additional reporting by Jihoon Lee;
Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
