SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean stocks rose on Tuesday following a strong close for US shares even as retail investors continued to sell to book profit before the year-end. The Korean won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.

** The benchmark KOSPI rose 20.74 points, or 0.69%, to 3,020.29, as of 0632 GMT.

** Investors bought shares before the ex-dividend date and positive sentiment following a strong Wall Street rally also helped, said Huh Jae-hwan, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities.

** Among heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics rose 0.12% and peer SK Hynix climbed 1.19%, while LG Chem advanced 0.80% and Naver gained 1.05%.

** Foreigners were net buyers of 439.1 billion won worth of shares on the main board.

** The won was quoted at 1,188.0 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.10% lower than its previous close at 1,186.8.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,187.8 per dollar, down 0.2% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,188.3.

** The KOSPI has risen 5.11% so far this year.

** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index was 591.97 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 931, the number of advancing shares was 524.

** The won has lost 8.6% against the dollar so far this year.

** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.03 point to 109.13.

** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 1.2 basis points to 1.788%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.7 basis point to 2.205%.