KOSPI rises, foreigners net sellers
Korean won weakens against dollar
South Korea benchmark bond yield falls
For the midday report, please click nL1N40502H
SEOUL, March 17 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
** South Korean shares rose more than 1% to close at a two-week high on Tuesday, as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor jumped on optimism around cooperation with U.S. artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia.
** The benchmark KOSPI .KS11 was up 90.63 points, or 1.63%, at 5,640.48, its highest closing level since March 3. During the session, it rose as much as 3.01%.
** Samsung Electronics 005930.KS rose 2.76%, after Nvidia NVDA.O CEO Jensen Huang said the South Korean chipmaker was producing the company's new AI chips. Rival SK Hynix 000660.KS fell 0.41%.
** Hyundai Motor 005380.KS and sister automaker Kia Corp 000270.KS gained 3.16% and 3.27%, respectively, after they announced their strategic partnership with Nvidia would be expanded for next-generation autonomous driving technologies.
** The announcements coincided with Nvidia's developer conference in California this week.
** Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy Solution 373220.KS climbed 3.96%, while Steelmaker POSCO Holdings 005490.KS added 2.70%. Drugmaker Samsung BioLogics 207940.KS rose 1.21%.
** Of the total 925 traded issues, 631 shares advanced, while 259 declined.
** Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 177.5 billion won ($118.92 million).
** The won was quoted at 1,493.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform KRW=KFTC, 0.11% lower than its previous close at 1,491.9.
** Bank of Korea board member Lee Soo-hyung offered a rare assessment of the exchange rate level, saying that it was too early to tell if the current dollar-won level of around 1,500 was misaligned with economic fundamentals.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield KR3YT=RR rose by 1.2 basis points to 3.321%, while the benchmark 10-year yield KR10YT=RR fell by 2.3 bps to 3.688%.
($1 = 1,492.6000 won)
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee, Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)
((jihoon.lee@thomsonreuters.com;))
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