S.Korean shares fall on worries over surging coronavirus cases

    * KOSPI falls, foreigners net sellers
    * Korean won weakens against U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield falls
    * For midday report, please click             

    SEOUL, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
    ** South Korean shares fell on Tuesday as worries grew over
surging coronavirus cases at home and abroad. The won weakened
and the benchmark bond yield fell.
    
    ** The number of coronavirus deaths in the United States
crossed 300,000 on Monday as the hardest hit nation started its
first vaccine inoculations, while tighter COVID-19 restrictions
were imposed on London.                          
    
    ** Back home, South Korea's prime minister pleaded with
residents on Tuesday to abide by social distancing rules to
avoid even greater restrictions in the face of the country's
largest wave of coronavirus infections.             
    
    ** South Korea reported 880 new coronavirus cases as of
midnight Monday, up from 718 a day earlier. 
    
    ** The benchmark KOSPI         closed down 5.38 points, or
0.19%, at 2,756.82.
    
    ** Worries grew over stricter lockdown measures imposed by
major economies, while China's economic data for November came
in line with expectations and could not lift investor sentiment,
said Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities. 
    
    ** China's industrial output expanded for the eighth
straight month in November as the economic recovery gathered
pace and global demand picked up.             
    
    ** LG Display             rose 6.9%, hitting its highest
since June 2019, on upbeat earnings forecast.             
    
    ** Foreigners were net sellers of 387.7 billion won ($354.76
million) worth of shares on the main board. 
    
    ** The won closed at 1,093.3 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform           , 0.14% lower than its previous
close of 1,091.8.
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won        was quoted at 1,092.6
per dollar, up 0.0% from the previous day, while in
non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
              was quoted at 1,092.2.
    
    ** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year
treasury bonds         rose 0.02 point to 111.70.
    
    ** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by
0.4 basis point to 0.982%, while the benchmark 10-year yield
fell by 0.3 basis point to 1.669%.

($1 = 1,092.8400 won)

 (Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)