S.Korea stocks slip after three days of gains on concerns over rising virus cases

    * KOSPI falls, foreigners net sellers
    * Korean won weakens against U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield rises

    SEOUL, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
    ** South Korean shares fell on Wednesday, after gaining for
three consecutive sessions, as the number of new COVID-19 cases
hitting the highest levels in 39 days weighed on sentiment. The
won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.
    
    ** The benchmark KOSPI         tumbled 42.96 points, or
1.38%, to 3,119.65 by 0202 GMT. 
    
    ** South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun warned
against the loosening enforcement of social distancing rules
after the country reported 621 new infections as of Tuesday
midnight, the highest levels in 39 days.             
    
    ** Among major heavyweights, chip giants Samsung Electronics
            and SK Hynix             dropped 2.1% and 3%,
respectively, while internet giant Naver             also slid
1%.
    
    ** Foreigners were net sellers of 306.5 billion won ($276.85
million) worth of shares on the main board. 
    
    ** The won was quoted at 1,107.5 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform           , 0.67% lower than its previous
close at 1,100.1 and snapping a four-day winning streak. It
soared to a one-month high on Tuesday.
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won        was quoted at 1,107.5
per dollar, down 0.1% from the previous day, while in
non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
              was quoted at 1,107.0.
    
    ** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year
treasury bonds         fell 0.04 points to 111.57.
    
    ** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by
0.6 basis points to 0.991%, while the benchmark 10-year yield
rose by 3.3 basis points to 1.883%.

    ($1 = 1,107.1000 won)

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Rashmi Aich)