S.Korea stocks fall on valuation, recovery worries

    * KOSPI falls, foreigners net sellers
    * Korean won hits 2-month low against U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield edges lower

    SEOUL, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
    ** South Korean shares fell on Thursday, tracking a sharp
Wall Street decline and as investors fretted about stretched
valuations of local stocks and a slowdown in economic recovery.
The won weakened to a two-month low, while the benchmark bond
yield inched lower.
    
    ** The benchmark KOSPI         was down 23.85 points, or
0.76%, to 3,098.71 by 0148 GMT, after dropping as much as 2.4%
in early trade. The index was on track to post a third straight
session of fall. It has climbed about 7.5% so far this month,
adding to last year's more than 30% jump.
    
    ** Most heavyweights slid. Chip giant Samsung Electronics
            tumbled as much as 2.8% in early trade, while SK
Hynix             skidded 3.1%. Hyundai Motor             and
Samsung SDI             were down 1.2% and 2.4%, respectively.
    
    ** Samsung Electronics posted a 26% jump in fourth-quarter
operating profit but warned that a stronger currency and costs
related to new chip production would lead to a weaker profit
result in the current quarter.             
    
    ** Adding to the stock rout worries, U.S. Federal Reserve
policymakers flagged concerns about a slowdown in the pace of
economic recovery.             
    
    ** Foreigners were net sellers of 593.5 billion won ($533.17
million) worth of shares on the main board.
    
    ** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index
        was 602.09 million shares. Of the total traded issues of
910, the number of advancing shares was 151.
    
    ** The won was quoted at 1,113.4 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform           , 0.81% lower than its previous
close.
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won        was quoted at 1,112.1
per dollar, down 0.3% from the previous day, while in
non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
              was quoted at 1,111.6.
    
    ** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year
treasury bonds         rose 0.01 point to 111.53.
    
    ** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by
0.1 basis point to 0.981%.

($1 = 1,113.1500 won)

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)