Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

 

** South Korean shares rose for a second straight session and hit their highest level in more than a month on Wednesday, with financial stocks leading gains.

** The benchmark KOSPI closed up 10.69 points, or 0.39%, at 2,745.05, its highest since April 2.

** "The KOSPI was mostly kept in a narrow range after landing above the 2,700-level, with next week's U.S. inflation data likely to be the next (key) event," said Seo Jung-hun, an analyst at Samsung Securities.

** On Tuesday, the KOSPI jumped 2.16%, catching up with a rally fuelled by last week's softer-than-expected employment data in the United States.

** The U.S. Federal Reserve may need to hold interest rates steady for an "extended period," and possibly all year, due to stalled inflation buoyed in part by housing market strength, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said on Tuesday.

** The Finance-major Index and the Securities-minor Index were up 1.59% and 1.16%, respectively, among the biggest gaining sub-indexes.

** HD Hyundai Marine Solution ended its first day of trading with a gain of 96.52% from the initial public offering (IPO) price, after a 742 billion won ($538 million) IPO, South Korea's largest in two years.

** Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics ended flat, peer SK Hynix lost 0.89%, while battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 0.38%.

** Of the total 934 traded issues, 577 shares advanced, while 283 declined.

** Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 316.0 billion won ($231.68 million).

** The won ended onshore trade at 1,361.5 per dollar, 0.10% lower than its previous close at 1,360.1.

** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.5 basis points to 3.444%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.3 basis points to 3.531%. ($1 = 1,363.9500 won) (Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Eileen Soreng)