S.Korean stocks log sharpest weekly decline since Feb as chip shares dive

* KOSPI falls, foreigners net sellers

* Korean won weakens against U.S. dollar

* South Korea benchmark bond yield rises

* For the midday report, please click

SEOUL, Aug 13 (Reuters) – Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares fell on Friday, and logged their sharpest weekly decline since February, after foreigners sold semiconductor stocks and as local cases of COVID-19 surged. The Korean won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.

** The benchmark KOSPI fell 37.09 points, or 1.16%, to 3,171.29 as of 0632 GMT. For the week, the index dropped 3.03%.

** Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics fell 3.38%, while peer SK Hynix rose 1%. LG Chem rose 2.05% and Naver fell 0.91%.

** Foreigners were net sellers of 2,693.1 billion won worth of shares on the main board.

** The won was quoted at 1,169.0 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.67% lower than its previous close at 1,161.2.

** There is a bit of instability in the market and fears about a further drop in chip shares, while worsening outbreak of the Delta variant also dented sentiment, said Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,168.6 per dollar, down 0.5% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,168.9.

** The KOSPI has risen 10.36% this year, but has lost 2.2% in the previous 30 trading sessions.

** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index was 684.46 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 918, the number of advancing shares was 164.

** The won has lost 7.1% against the dollar this year.

** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.03 points to 110.38.

** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.6 basis points to 1.407%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 0.3 basis points to 1.924%.

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