S.Korea stocks rise on extended foreign buying spree

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

    SEOUL, April 7 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean
financial markets:
    
    ** South Korean shares rose on Wednesday, on strong buying
by foreign investors for a fifth straight day on expectations of
an economic recovery and stabilising U.S. bond yields. The won
strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.
    
    ** The KOSPI         rose 9.49 points, or 0.30%, to 3,136.57
as of 0221 GMT.
    
    ** Foreigners were net buyers of 219.4 billion won ($196.28
million) worth shares on the main board, extending the buying
spree to a fifth straight day, the longest since November 2020.
    
    ** The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday
unprecedented public spending to fight the COVID-19 pandemic,
primarily by the United States, would push global growth to 6%
this year, a rate unseen since the 1970s.             
    
    ** U.S. Treasury yields dipped on Tuesday, with 5-year notes
leading the decline, on investor views that market pricing based
on an earlier-than-expected tightening by the Fed was too
aggressive.             
    
    ** But the country reporting 668 new coronavirus cases for
Tuesday, the highest daily count since Jan. 8, weighed on the
sentiment.             
    
    ** Samsung Electronics shares slid 0.35% even as the company
said its first-quarter profit likely rose 44%, boosted by brisk
sales of smartphones and TVs.             
    
    ** Meanwhile, its peer SK Hynix rose 0.35% after local media
reported the company is close to signing a long-term deal to
provide automotive memory chips to German auto supplier Robert
Bosch GmbH          .             
    
    ** The won was quoted at 1,116.5 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform           , 0.28% higher than its previous
close at 1,119.6.
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won        was quoted at 1,116.7
per dollar, up 0.2% from the previous day, while in
non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
              was quoted at 1,116.5.
    
    ** The benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.9 basis points to
2.059%.

($1 = 1,117.7900 won)

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)