S.Korea stocks jump to near 3-week high on upbeat trade data, Wall St rally

    * KOSPI rises, foreigners net buyers
    * Korean won strengthens against U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield rises

    SEOUL, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
    ** South Korean shares jumped on Monday to their highest in
nearly three weeks as markets resumed trade after a long
weekend, with upbeat preliminary trade data and Wall Street
scaling record closing high last week lifting investor
sentiment. Both the won and the benchmark bond yield rose.
    
    ** The benchmark KOSPI         climbed 48.46 points, or
1.56%, to 3,149.04 by 0207 GMT, the highest since Jan. 27.
    
    ** The market was closed on Thursday and Friday for the
Lunar New Year holidays.
    
    ** South Korea's exports during the first 10 days of
February surged 69.1% from a year earlier, customs agency data
showed, driven by a sales boost in major exporting products and
strong overseas demand.             
    
    ** Most heavyweights strengthened: Chip giants Samsung
Electronics             and SK Hynix             were up 3.2%
and 4.4%, respectively, while Naver             and Samsung SDI
            gained 4.1% and 2.2%.
    
    ** Shares of electric vehicle battery maker SK Innovation
            tumbled as much as 9.6% to a more than three-week
low, while rival LG Chem             jumped more than 3%,
following SK's loss against LG in a U.S. battery trade case last
week.             
    
    ** "U.S. stimulus hopes and strong chip shares are towing
KOSPI gains. Foreign investors are purchasing chip stocks after
the U.S. Philadelphia semiconductor index jumped over 5% over
the Lunar New Year holiday," said Seo Sang-young, a Kiwoom
Securities analyst.
    
    ** Foreigners were net buyers of 403.9 billion won ($365.89
million) worth of shares on the main board. 
    
    ** The won was quoted at 1,104.0 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform           , 0.27% higher than its previous
close at 1,107.0.
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won        was quoted at
1,103.9, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month
contract               was quoted at 1,103.3.
    
    ** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by
0.2 basis point to 0.998%.

($1 = 1,103.8700 won)

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Additional reporting by Jihoon Lee;
Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)