KOSPI rises, foreigners net sellers
Korean won little changed against dollar
South Korea benchmark bond yield steady
For the midday report, please click nL1N3Y700T
SEOUL, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
** South Korean share gauge recouped early losses to end at a record on Tuesday, as chipmakers rose ahead of Samsung Electronics' earnings release, while Hyundai Motor also touched an all-time high.
** The benchmark KOSPI .KS11 closed up 67.96 points, or 1.52%, at a record 4,525.48 after falling as much as 1.4% earlier in the session on profit-booking pressure.
** Chipmakers Samsung Electronics 005930.KS and SK Hynix 000660.KS ended up 0.58% and 4.31%, respectively, logging their highest closes. They started the session lower, tracking overnight losses in U.S. chipmakers Micron Technology MU.O and Nvidia NVDA.O.
** 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 driven up memory prices amid booming demand for artificial intelligence.
** "We are seeing real numbers for the semiconductor sector, and considering those, investors still see stock prices as inexpensive," said Huh Jae-hwan, analyst at Eugene Investment Securities. "There is strong market sentiment that Samsung's earnings will exceed expectations."
** Hyundai Motor 005380.KS closed up 1.15%, after rising as much as 8.37% earlier in the session on plans to deploy humanoid robots at its U.S. plant. Sister automaker Kia Corp 000270.KS fell 0.08%.
** Securities firms .KS53 rallied 7.06%, while financial groups .KS49 rose 1.91%, on expectations of stronger earnings.
** Of the 930 traded issues, 396 shares advanced, while 484 declined.
** Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 618.8 billion won ($428.37 million).
** The won was quoted at 1,445.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform KRW=KFTC, compared to its previous close at 1,445.6.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield KR3YT=RR rose 0.8 basis point to 2.941%, while the benchmark 10-year yield KR10YT=RR advanced 0.3 bps to 3.396%.($1 = 1,444.5300 won)