SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares rose on Wednesday, on strong buying by foreign investors for a fifth straight day on expectations of an economic recovery and stabilising U.S. bond yields. The won strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.

** The KOSPI rose 9.49 points, or 0.30%, to 3,136.57 as of 0221 GMT.

** Foreigners were net buyers of 219.4 billion won ($196.28 million) worth shares on the main board, extending the buying spree to a fifth straight day, the longest since November 2020.

** The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday unprecedented public spending to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily by the United States, would push global growth to 6% this year, a rate unseen since the 1970s. 

** U.S. Treasury yields dipped on Tuesday, with 5-year notes leading the decline, on investor views that market pricing based on an earlier-than-expected tightening by the Fed was too aggressive. 

** But the country reporting 668 new coronavirus cases for Tuesday, the highest daily count since Jan. 8, weighed on the sentiment. 

** Samsung Electronics shares slid 0.35% even as the company said its first-quarter profit likely rose 44%, boosted by brisk sales of smartphones and TVs. 

** Meanwhile, its peer SK Hynix rose 0.35% after local media reported the company is close to signing a long-term deal to provide automotive memory chips to German auto supplier Robert Bosch GmbH. 

** The won was quoted at 1,116.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.28% higher than its previous close at 1,119.6.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,116.7 per dollar, up 0.2% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,116.5.

** The benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.9 basis points to 2.059%.

($1 = 1,117.7900 won)

(Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Shailesh Kuber) ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 6936 1493;))