SEOUL, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares retreated on Tuesday, dragged down by heavyweight chipmakers as investors awaited Samsung Electronics' earnings later this week, while Hyundai Motor hit a record high.

** The benchmark KOSPI .KS11 was down 18.38 points, or 0.41%, at 4,439.14, as of 0130 GMT. On Monday, it jumped the most in nearly nine months to close at a record high.

** Chipmaker Samsung Electronics 005930.KS fell 2.39% and peer SK Hynix 000660.KS lost 1.15%, after closing on Monday at their highest levels on record.

** Samsung Electronics is expected to flag a 160% jump in its fourth-quarter operating profit on Thursday, spurred by a severe chip shortage that has sharply driven up memory prices amid booming demand for artificial intelligence.

** U.S. chipmakers Micron Technology MU.O and Nvidia NVDA.O fell on Monday.

** "Upside will be limited today amid a wait-and-see stance ahead of Samsung earnings and profit-taking pressure after two sessions of a surge in semiconductor stocks," said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.

** Hyundai Motor 005380.KS was up 0.66% after rising as much as 8.37% earlier in the session to an all-time high on plans to deploy humanoid robots at its U.S. plant. Sister automaker Kia Corp 000270.KS traded down 0.33%.

** Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy Solution 373220.KS climbed 2.02%, while steelmaker POSCO Holdings 005490.KS added 0.33%. Drugmaker Samsung BioLogics 207940.KS rose 0.47%.

** Of the total 929 traded issues, 381 shares advanced, while 496 declined.

** Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 716.0 billion won ($494.46 million).

** The won was quoted at 1,448.4 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform KRW=KFTC, 0.19% lower than its previous close at 1,445.6.

** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield KR3YT=RR fell by 0.5 basis point to 2.928%, while the benchmark 10-year yield KR10YT=RR fell by 1.4 basis points to 3.379%.

($1 = 1,448.0300 won)

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

((jihoon.lee@thomsonreuters.com;))