South Korean shares hit more than 21-month high as battery makers rally
*
KOSPI rises, foreigners net sellers
*
Korean won little changed against dollar
*
South Korea benchmark bond yield steady
*
For the midday report, please click
SEOUL, March 12 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
** South Korean shares rose on Tuesday, led by battery makers, to hit their highest in more than 21 months.
** The benchmark KOSPI closed up 21.97 points, or 0.83%, at 2,681.81, its highest since late May 2022.
** "Battery makers led the gains on the benchmark index, after a slight rise in Tesla, while there also are hopes for mass production of solid-state batteries by Samsung SDI," Cho Jun-kee, an analyst at SK Securities, said.
** Battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 4.74%, after its customer Tesla rose more than 1% on Monday. Peers Samsung SDI and SK Innovation jumped 11.12% and 1.94%, respectively.
** Battery materials makers LG Chem and POSCO Holdings rose 3.33% and 2.97%, respectively.
** Of the total 934 traded issues, 368 shares advanced, while 496 declined.
** Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 391.3 billion won (about $299 million) on the main board.
** The won ended onshore trade at 1,311.0 per dollar, 0.05% lower than its previous close at 1,310.3.
** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds was unchanged at 104.80.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.2 basis points to 3.273%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.3 basis points to 3.337%. ($1 = 1,310.1900 won) (Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
